Wanting Hope
by Staccato Rhythm
Summary: When you name a child, you gift them a legacy. Korrasami.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Korra

Rating: M

A/N: It's good to be writing for Avatar again.

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><p>Wanting Hope<p>

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><p>Asami gasped into Korra's mouth.<p>

Their room in the Southern Water Tribe Palace felt stifling. It probably had something to do with their slicks bodies rutting wantonly under their sheet and fur pelts, unwilling to be parted for even a second. Moonlight spilled between the shutters and starlight danced across Korra's face as she dipped low and sucked at the soft skin between Asami's neck and shoulder. _Spirits_ – this woman would be the death of her. It was all heat and love and Asami could feel herself melting under her wife's strong body and hands.

Korra was always a little ... _different_ when they touched down in the Southern Water Tribe. Coarser, more primal – showcasing her strength with powerful displays of bending and staking her claim over the land like the Alpha of a polar bear dog pack. She accepted bending duels from her father's militia at every turn and delighted in their defeats. She followed her painted and armed brethren in hunting expeditions and took great pride in hauling the fallen carcases on sleds back to the city with nothing but her bare hands – smirking at the crowds who gathered in droves to see what spoils their fighters had returned with.

It was during these visits that Asami truly grasped the evidence that even though her wife was a citizen of every nation, she was first and foremost a Water Tribe warrior. The tundra called to Korra like no other landscape – ignited a fire in her soul (the soul separate from that of the Avatar's, the part that made Korra so essentially _Korra_). And why wouldn't it? Here people treated her like one of their own. Another piece of the puzzle that made up their ancient civilisation. Being the Avatar in the land of the waterbenders meant almost nothing.

And why should it? The artic winds whispered the history of Korra's people – the tireless refusal to break under the waves of invaders and attackers. A history of powerful spirits, of powerful benders, of extraordinary strength and passion. Asami knew Korra was exceptionally proud of her heritage and the legacy of her kin. She spoke at length about the legend of Princess Yue, the moon spirit, and her selfless sacrifice to Tui and La; of the Fire Nation's failed attempts to infiltrate and massacre the Northern Water Tribe for a hundred years; of Southern warriors sailing into the Earth Kingdom to cause havoc on Fire Nation soldier encampments.

"They didn't break without the Avatar," Korra had told her, "They seized their destiny in their own hands."

Korra respected that. Asami did too.

Still, it didn't mean Korra was open to sharing what was hers with people known to take what they felt was theirs to take. She eyed young men and women distrustfully and pulled Asami that bit closer while on their walks around the city. She all but snarled at anyone one who had the audacity to turn and gawk at her wife. Her hands splayed on Asami's hip possessively and her lips sought the space behind Asami's ear in public, a clear warning to all in the vicinity that Asami Sato was _hers_.

She took Asami roughly and confidently every night. She did so in Republic City too, but here in the South Pole, it truly felt like an insatiable marking. Korra bit and sucked and breathed every bit of Asami in. She left marks and bites and groans against her flesh, delighting in the sly smirks they received at breakfast and from members of her father's Council despite Asami's red cheeks and silent mortification.

Still, it was endearing and so very flattering. Watching Korra's inner warrior surface – in this place which heightened her already incredibly arousing masculinity and power – thrilled Asami right to her core. She always felt so sexy and wanted. Korra's attentions were never _not_ on her; her blue eyes feasting on her clothed form, on her unclothed form, locking with Asami's jade irises and sinking deep no matter what the circumstance. They could have been in a room full of dignitaries and royalty and Korra would have sought her out first, always.

"You feel so good," Korra groaned. The hot warm breath of air the admission produced from the Avatar sent goosebumps racing across Asami's skin.

Asami fisted at her wife's short hair and mewled softly like a kitten. The sound had Korra's tongue delving deep into her mouth to capture it and the fingers inside of her pushing deeper, faster. Asami felt their ribs lock together and press. Yearning to fuse, to mesh, to be one.

"I love you," Asami ground out, feeling the wave of ecstasy begin to swell towards that inevitable crest that she so desperately sought. That Korra had been pushing her towards all night, relentlessly.

"Love you," Korra murmured hotly, nuzzling into Asami's cheek as she shifted to be able to hold her wife closer, her unoccupied arm winding around her shoulders. "Mine. All mine."

"All yours."

"Ugh, say it again."

Asami curled a hand behind her wife's neck and the other migrated to her strong back, between the moving shoulder blades, anchoring her to this earth and bed. Spirits how she loved this woman with all of her heart, mind and body. The body which Korra was loving so thoroughly – so completely. Sending Asami hurtling towards that wonderful end.

She bit Korra's earlobe in a tantalizing nip. Kissed her temple, her cheek, and the corner of her mouth. "I'm yours, Korra. Show me that I'm yours. Take me."

Korra roared like an animal at the request and Asami's own shriek caught in her throat. The Avatar was driving inside of her like a woman possessed and it only took a few pushes before Asami broke, crying out her release into the dark room. Her fingers dug into her wife's skin and her legs wrapped tightly around slim hips. She bucked to ride the force of her orgasm.

But Korra didn't stop. She kept barrelling into her wife in strong steady pushes and curls of her fingers, a thumb rubbing hard tight circles around a small engorged bud. Drawing everything Asami had to give and seeking more—always more.

"You don't realize how much I want you," she said through strenuous breaths that rattled out of her, skin glistening in the starlight as Asami watched her through the fog of pleasure already rebuilding itself from the wreckage of her last release. "How much I want to claim you, love you always. How sometimes I wish I could watch you swell with my child."

Korra was obviously babbling utter nonsense. She probably hadn't even realized what she'd uttered. Still, Asami keened at the thought of a piece of Korra growing inside of her. She felt herself clench around her wife where they were joined and her heart lurched painfully against her chest. She was surprised by her body's reaction to the idea. But oh, how beautiful it would be. She felt tears spring to her eyes unbidden and bit her bottom lip hard to keep from letting out a call of broken agreement.

"I feel you so much here. I feel your spirit calling to mine; I feel your body _aching_ for mine." Korra slowed her thrusts down gradually before stilling completely for a hot pulsing moment, overcome. Her head was thrown back and her mouth hung open in a silent pant at the fluttering feel of Asami's core tightening around her fingers, of the feelings thrumming and coursing in the room.

It felt truly spiritual.

"I want _you_," Asami sobbed, canting her hips in a silent demand for Korra to continue making love to her.

Korra's neck snapped down to meet her wife, breasts heaving as she laboured for air. "How much? How much do you want me?"

Asami took a deep breath and cracked her eyes open, instantly feeling that breath escape in a rush. Because Korra had robbed her of it. Looking so magnificent in this unearthly glow from the moon, pupils blown wide by love and lust, lips trembling from the force of her arousal. The Avatar's impressive muscles (Spirits those _arms_) flexed as she shifted against Asami's body, bronze skin lowering to kiss at tender pale flesh.

"More," she swallowed thickly, trembling from head to toe, "More than anything in this world."

Korra rocked into her with a renewed fire, answering Asami's pleas and moans with some of her own. They kissed messily and with so much love. Korra's eyebrows were knitted as though in pain, eyes clenched tight. And it did feel a little painful, Asami thought absent mindedly. All of this love they were harbouring felt too large for their ribs to encase.

When Asami felt herself near the edge once more she cupped her wife's cheeks and licked at her bottom lip, hoping to look into her eyes when she finally crashed. "I'm close."

Korra's lashes fluttered at the unspoken request but it was not the gentle blue that Asami loved so much staring back at her when her eyes did finally open. Instead it was the piercing holy white of the Avatar State.

Asami startled but hadn't the time to do anything more than arch into Korra's body as she climaxed, holding her wife's face to her chest as she cried out Korra's name.

They panted against each other's flesh as they came down together. The Avatar State flickered out and Korra grumbled and shook her head like Naga after a bath. Outside, the wind whistled and played through chimes. The moon became obscured by a smattering of clouds and Asami let her wife roll them over and hoist Asami's spent and bruised body over the Avatar's, instantly snuggling down.

She fell instantly asleep, both hands curled around the back of Korra's head and with Korra's warm and calloused hands grasping her hips securely.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Korra.

**Review Responses:**

Sarah Pimz: I hope this was worth the wait.

Guest: Well, there was a whipped cream version but ... y'know.

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Claire Cooper: In all seriousness, I think I'm your fandom soulmate.

Guest: Thank you, I'm very glad. Haha, I see you've read my other works.

maximus17: Gracias por el cumplido.

Ryoko05: Oh wow, I'm blushing. We've actually fast forwarded about four years post-finale so Korra and Asami have since tied the knot.

Phoebex13: On the tag? Wow, I didn't know people even paid attention to the tags anymore. I feel you, though. I've been on cloud nine for days. What can I say? I'm a sucker for inexplicable fertility powers.

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BeatrixKiddo: Go big or go home, right? Thanks, stay tuned.

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Curious-browser127: Captured your attention though, didn't it? Stop, I'm blushing. Yes, it's a multi-chap fic. Maybe about seven or eight chapters?

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**Authors note:**

Okay, so a lot of support for this little fic. Good to know. Anyway, I want to wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2015. I drank mucho champagne and need to go lie down, but do enjoy this latest instalment while I render myself unconscious.

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><p>Chapter 2<p>

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><p>"Did you realize you were in the Avatar State last night?"<p>

Korra looked up from her newspaper and arched an eyebrow at her wife stirring sugar in two cups of tea. They'd woken up a few hours ago and wandered into the Palace kitchens; after another round consisting of Korra holding onto the bed frame while her wife lapped at her core firmly and with the intent to make her come as hard as she had last night. So at this very moment in time, sleepy, sated and full of love, she couldn't have even remembered her own nationality if probed.

"I was?"

Asami frowned at her. "You didn't notice?"

Korra flushed pleasantly as she eyed her wife in all her morning glory. Her hair was dishevelled, her neck wore an impressive necklace of bite marks and her robe was slipping off of one shoulder in the most enticing way. "To be perfectly honest," she said slowly, feasting on the sight, "I wasn't paying attention to much beside you."

Asami chuckled as she set a cup of steaming tea in front of her wife and leaned down to kiss her smirking mouth. "Charmer," she murmured seductively against her lips.

Korra's retort was lost when Tonraq and Senna trooped into the kitchen and greeted both girls with warm smiles and enquiries on how they'd slept. The married couple broke apart and avoided Senna's knowing grin when Korra cleared her throat uneasily.

The family eventually sat around the large table and conversed amiably about what Korra and Asami's plans were for the day as they ate and sipped at their tea.

"We'll probably visit the Temple and pay a visit to Master Katara. Kya says she's not been very well."

Asami took hold of her wife's hand on the table and sent her a reassuring look. "Still, it'll brighten her day to see you."

Korra's mouth was a hard line as she played with her wife's fingers idly. "I sure hope so."

"She's a fascinating woman, Korra. You should ask her about her life," said Senna as she cleared up their plates and empty cups. "When we were growing up we used to really look forward to her stories."

Korra perked considerably at this titbit of information. Asami saw her wife learn forward eagerly for more. "You knew Master Katara before I was born?"

"She was a very approachable lady," Senna replied once she'd re-joined the table. "Whenever she visited the Southern Water tribe with Avatar Aang she'd sit with the children and tell us stories for hours."

"Did you ever get to meet Avatar Aang?" Asami asked interestedly, throwing Korra a sidelong glance to gage her reaction to the thought of her mother having known her past life.

Korra was beaming brightly, if even a little curiously. Asami wondered what she was thinking as Senna shrugged. It must have been so strange to hear about a life you'd lived and couldn't remember. Like a forgotten dream everyone around you remembered and you'd let slip through your fingers like grains of sand.

"We caught glimpses of him now and again. He was a busy man. When he wasn't with the Council or Chief Sokka he was practising his bending. He was always kind to us of course, but he never stopped to converse like Master Katara did."

Tonraq threw an arm around his wife's shoulders as he said, quite proudly, "_I've_ spoken to Avatar Aang."

Korra's brow rose and met her hairline. "You have? You never told me that before."

Her father nodded, looking at the table's occupants smugly. "He even gave me some tips on my waterbending. And with girls." He waggled his eyebrows at Senna suggestively who swatted his arm. He laughed and kissed her cheek in silent apology for his insensitivity. "Don't worry, darling. His advice ran along the vein of 'if love is true it will find a way'. And also something about how being the Avatar doesn't hurt your chances with the ladies."

"I'll say!" said Korra with a smirk; she and Tonraq high fived across the kitchen table as their respective wives rolled their eyes.

"Like father like daughter," Senna sighed.

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><p>"Avatar Korra?"<p>

The Water priest who'd spied the Avatar and her wife walking hand in hand along the corridors gawked as his voice echoed across the marble and ice walls of the Avatar Temple. He tripped over his traditional robes in his haste to reach them and bowed deeply, clasping a clenched a fist against an open palm, a gesture Asami had never seen before. The Water Nations were truly ingrained in the traditions of old it seemed.

Korra released her hand and returned the greeting in kind.

"I am Priest Hu. It is an honour to attend to the Avatar and her companion."

Asami smiled gently at the young priest. He looked as though he could pass out at any moment due to Korra's presence in the Temple. Which was understandable really. His entire life had been dedicated to serving the Avatar. He'd probably anticipated and dreamt of this moment since his initiation into the priesthood.

"Thank you, Hu. My wife and I were wondering if it was possible to visit the Avatar Chamber?"

His eyes bulged and his head bobbed furiously in confirmation. He beckoned them after him and all but cantered down a series of hallways, babbling about the history of the Temple and how long the priests had resided here and what year he'd been ordained. Asami and Korra were forced to jog to keep up with him humming and hawing at random intervals.

Hu eventually led them to an enormous ice door flanked on both sides by the ice likeness of Avatar Kuruk and Avatar Kymo (after many, what felt like unnecessary, twists and turns) Emblems of the Water Tribes had been carved into the ice along with hunting and waterbending scenes rising along the length of the door. An impression of Avatar Aang – the patron of this building – stood watch over the Water Tribe crest.

"Wow."

Korra smiled at her wife's sentiment. She'd been mesmerized on her first visit, too.

Hu took up a waterbending stance and rolled his body in an arc movement before pushing an imaginary wave away from his body. The ice door cracked in the middle like an iceberg meeting the shore and hedged open to reveal a glistening room full of ice sculptures glittering in the lamp lights dotted inside its vastness. A light fog rolled out and snaked around their legs which Hu dissipated with a slow movement of his arm.

Korra stepped inside, as though pulled by the energy of the room. Her footsteps echoed ominously and Asami heard Hu gulp when she'd been swallowed by the gloom.

"I shall leave you and the Avatar be," he said quietly, eyes trained into the room where Korra was walking among her past lives.

"Thank you, Hu. We are very appreciative of your guidance and help."

The young priest smiled gratefully at Asami's words and bowed with the same hand gesture. This time Asami had the chance to reciprocate. She watched him depart down the hallway and turn a corner out of sight.

She eventually found Korra standing before the sculpture of Avatar Aang. Her wife's arms were crossed over her chest as she contemplated the man she had once been. Korra's eyes were deep and dark as she took in her past life's features, intricately carved by the most meticulous waterbending hand.

He had a kind looking face, Asami decided. Laugh lines and crows feet that spoke of a lifetime of laughter and joy despite the monstrosities and pressures he'd experienced as his time as the Avatar. A good man, Asami had overheard Tenzin saying about his father. Always up for something crazy, Bumi had added cheekily.

"Hey."

Korra leaned into Asami's arm which wound around her shoulders. "Hi."

Asami nodded at the statue of the legend. "You're looking good."

"Baldness does look good on me."

"And the beard –" Asami whistled lowly, impressed. She snorted when Korra's elbow met her ribs.

One of Korra's arms wrapped familiarly around Asami's waist as they basked in the supernatural energy that seemed to permeate and thrum in the air. And then Asami felt a shift. Korra tensed against her and there was a look in her eye – like she wanted to say something but wasn't sure if she should.

"You think Aang could have imagined that the boy he gave bending tips to all those years ago would … father him?"

Asami paused. "Well that's not something I thought you'd say."

Korra shrugged one shoulder. "I've been thinking about it since this morning."

Asami led them away from Aang's statue. It didn't take much convincing. Korra was only too happy to shuffle along the rows of Avatars. They were all lined up back to back like dominos. Like a platoon of an army. It was a little intimidating.

She and Asami followed an un-organized path and meandered to their hearts content

"I think the idea that souls that meet and connect can transcend death and lifetimes is strangely comforting."

Korra tilted her head up towards Asami, her arm tightening around her wife's waist. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. I mean, the thought of my soul following yours after we die … it's reassuring."

Korra nodded pensively. She stopped them before the statue of Avatar Niquoa and wrapped both arms around Asami's waist, pressing her forehead against the other woman's chest. Asami leaned her chin on her wife's head and held her closely, revelling in the warmth and safety of their embrace.

"Some loves are so strong they can transcend lifetimes."

Asami made a happy noise from the back of her throat. "Is that an original quote, darling?"

"No. It's an Avatar Roku one, I think? I may have paraphrased a little." Korra inclined her head up and gave Asami her most disarming smile. "But the oldies are always the goodies."

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><p>Asami watched Katara and Korra potter around each other in the waterbender's small kitchen. They worked seamlessly, anticipating each others moves and adapting effortlessly to any change in the choreography. Asami wondered if this cohesion was a translated one from Avatar Aang's experiences seeping through into Korra's life. Or if it was due to the years she and Master Katara had spent honing Korra's skills while she'd trained to become the Avatar?<p>

When Korra had boiled the water and moved fluidily to bend it in the air – Katara was at the ready with her open teapot and a good-natured jibe at Korra's form. Asami decided then that it didn't matter. Her wife was happy. That was all she needed to know.

"You're tense –" Katara accused the Avatar with a sly little smirk sent Asami's way at the kitchen table. "Is Asami distracting you?" She placed the pot on the counter to allow the tea leaves to settle in the water in their own time.

Korra rolled her eyes at her Master. "When isn't she?"

"Hey!" was Asami's indignant exclamation which sent Katara and Korra into peals of laughter. That laughter was halted however by a violent coughing fit which wracked through the old woman's body like a mighty shiver.

Asami was on her feet in an instant and only caught a quick glance of the look of pure fear which was splashed across Korra's face before she was helping Katara into a chair. Katara took several deep calming breaths when the fit had passed. Her eyes were watery and her cheeks pale in the afternoon sun filtering through the open window.

"Goodness," she wheezed, squeezing Asami's hand which had found home in her own in thanks.

Korra turned her face away from her Master and pretended to become engrossed in the tea making process. By the time she'd deposited three steaming cups on the table Katara had recovered and she and Asami were talking in hushed tones about how Tenzin and the children were.

"Thank you, Korra." Master Katara smiled gently at her young pupil. Her gnarled hands closed in around the cup and she sighed softly at the warmth against her palms.

Asami and Korra exchanged a worried look but held their tongues and sipped at their tea.

"So," said Katara definitively, looking better now with warmth in her throat. There was a renewed colour to her cheeks too. She looked between the two young women at her table. "How is your first year of married life treating you?"

Korra smiled gently at her Master and then at her wife who was blushing prettily and smiling into her chest. She placed a warm sure hand on Asami's thigh beneath the table. "Good."

"Just good?" she chuckled, nodding meaningfully at them both.

"Wonderful," Asami breathed at Korra. Her wife's face softened into a tender expression and they began to lean for a kiss before Asami realized where they were and pulled back abruptly.

It felt wrong to want to kiss her Avatar when Master Katara was sitting so close. Asami almost felt like had stolen something precious. But Katara's smile was soft and filled with maternal pride without a trace of jealousy or pain for the husband she had lost. She waved her hand in a dismissive way and said brightly, "Oh just kiss her already. Look at that polar bear puppy pout she's giving you."

Korra's bottom lip quivered for extra effect.

Asami didn't have to be told twice and she framed her wife's face and kissed her affectionately under the unspoken blessing given by the woman who had loved the Avatar before her. Korra nuzzled their noses when they parted before facing Katara who was beaming at them, pleased.

"I remember my first year of marriage with Aang," she said wistfully her eyes swinging towards the photographs which lined the walls. There were candid shots of Katara and Aang holding a baby each, or posing in front of an Air Temple with their arms around each other. "It's a lovely time."

Asami had to agree. She and Korra had been together for three happy years before delving into the world of wedding arrangements following a solemn plead from Korra to 'make me the happiest woman on earth'. And although Asami had been sceptical of marriage changing their already, in her opinion, perfect chemistry and synergy … she had to admit that the difference was noticeable.

It was the little things.

How Korra introduced Asami as her wife to strangers, proudly and with just a hint of awe and incredulousness laced in her voice, like she couldn't believe it herself.

How she signed her name with a scrawled _Sato _on correspondences.

How Asami touched the necklace at her throat each day and could _feel_ the absolute devotion and love that had gone into the carving.

How their invitations to galas and meetings were addressed to Avatar Korra Sato and Mrs. Asami Sato, rather than receiving two separate envelopes.

How Asami thought of their future as a certainty rather than a foolish girl's hopes and daydreams.

How Korra held her tight and all she could think was 'we are family.'

It gave their love a new dimension – a claim. Korra was her own woman and yet belonged to the world in the same breath. She belonged to every nation that needed her, every person who cried for help, every spirit who beseeched the Avatar to be the bridge between their world and the human one. But marriage ... being bound to Korra … it had made the idea of Korra belonging to the world easier to accept. Because at least she knew that in the eyes of all nations and the Spirit World she was Korra's and no one else's.

"It's our anniversary soon, Katara," Korra said giddily, her hand squeezing Asami's thigh. "We're having a big party in Republic City. You have to come!"

Asami noticed a sad look pass over the old waterbender's face and Master Katara sighed like the weight of the world was once again pressing against her shoulders, "I'm sorry, Korra. I don't think I will be able to attend."

"But – why? Everyone will be there. Even my parents are making the trip."

Katara offered them a sad smile. "I do not think I will live to see it. Or be quite well enough to travel if I do."

Korra reeled back as though she'd been struck a physical blow. "How can you say that? Of course you'll live to see it!" she bit back, cheeks colouring darkly in resentment of her Master's words.

"Korra," Asami said gently. She took one of her wife's hands in both of hers, trying to calm down the riled Avatar. Korra hadn't noticed but a gust of wind had picked up in the room and was knocking objects off of shelves and walls. "Sweetie—"

"Korra, dying is a part of life. There is nothing to fear."

Korra leapt to her feet and clenched her fists, knuckles turning white. The look on her face was a mixture of anger and fear. "You're not dying!" she shouted and Asami flinched, wondering how it was that Katara could stare the Avatar down as she was doing. Had she had practice? Had Aang fashioned storms she'd had to battle?

Korra thundered out of the room despite Asami's pleading for her to stay and slammed the door after her, causing the two women still inside to flinch.

The old Master shook her head regretfully after the young Avatar. "Let her go, Asami. Korra needs to process what I have already accepted."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Korra

**Review Responses:**

Spikesagitta (chapter 1): Thank you. I don't know how I'm going to beat that.

pen-paper-and-eraser (chapter 1): I think the site bugged my stories but it seems to have fixed itself since? Here's hoping. If you have any trouble reaching the chapters in the future they are also being uploaded on my tumblr, of which you can find the url on my profile.

Bullet Rosettes chapter 2: The story is compact enough for there to be regular updates. I'm really glad you're liking it so far.

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soph: Katara dying is slowly killing me though. I'm a heartless human being.

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Curious-browser127: This is definitely going to be a craaaaazy one. If by crazy you mean really domestically boring? I worked off most of my post-New Year hangover so we're all good, thank you.

Phoebex13: Happy New Year to you too. Korrasami domestic bliss is also giving me life, you are not alone. I know. Katara dying is ripping me to shreds.

**A/N:**

I realize chapter 2 got a little fucked up there for a day or two. It seems to have fixed itself in the meantime but if the problem re-occurs I urge you to visit my tumblr to read the chapters. Chapter 3 is a little short, but fear not! There will be a new update tomorrow. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed your New Year and are ready to tackle 2015 with all the dread and anxiety that I myself am experiencing.

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><p>Chapter 3<p>

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><p>Katara found Korra sitting moodily in the snow on the eastern shore of the South Pole some hours later. Asami had fretted herself silly and no amount of tea or sympathetic nuzzling from Naga, who'd also been left behind, could reassure her that Korra was fine. So Katara had decided then to venture out to what had been Aang's safe haven from the pressures of being the Avatar. Katara recalled her husband happily building snowmen by hand or staring out into the calm seas, enjoying the artic sun on his face. It was no wonder that Korra had found this place in her quest to find solace.<p>

"It will be getting dark soon," she said. The sound of her voice had the young Avatar twisting her torso to see who had followed her. "Asami would like to know if she should head back to the Palace without you."

Korra blinked before her shoulders sagged in defeat, exhaling a loud heavy breath. "No. I'll head back with her." She rose with a grunt and dusted the back of her legs free of the powdery snow that clung there.

Katara moved to stand at her side and pupil and teacher looked out into the horizon for a few moments. Neither Korra nor Katara were quite ready to return to the duties of Master and Avatar. Instead, they silently agreed to enjoy the vision the sea presented before them. And it was calm today. The sun glittered on the water like millions of tiny jewels lay just beneath the waterline ready to be fished out.

"You know, Korra … I have mastered my waterbending."

Korra sent the old waterbender a perplexed sidelong glance. But Katara was smiling out at the sea and sky like nothing was amiss.

"I have raised three wonderful children with my best friend." Her fingers touched the necklace at her throat. "I have even seen my little Tenzin father four beautiful children of his own. I am ready to go."

"What if _I'm_ not ready for you to go?" Korra said thickly. The image of the sea and the sky was blurring into one being as her eyes misted over.

Katara turned to face her and Korra's face twisted with real hot tears. They slipped, one by one, down her face. "You will be, Korra. I have taught you well, have I not?"

"You have."

Katara's weathered face pulled into a kind motherly smile as she rested her hands on Korra's strong shoulders. Blue eyes locked to blue eyes. The last great lesson between pupil and teacher. "I have been with your from the very beginning. Watched you master the elements, honour our traditions, and find your path as the Avatar. Yes?"

Korra nodded, body beginning to quake. The artic winds were a poor excuse for the shiver that ran along the length of her spine, or the chill which descended over her bones.

Katara touched Korra's cheek with a hand and tapped it once. A warning for Korra to listen to her – to reall absorb and grasp what she was saying. "Then honour my life by continuing the work we have achieved together. In your past and present life."

* * *

><p>They lingered in the Southern Water Tribe for an extra week at Korra's insistence. It had very little to do with squeezing in seven more days with Senna and Tonraq like she'd claimed, and everything to do with making sure Katara was comfortable. In fact, most of Korra's evenings were spent with her old Master, hearing timeworn tales, recounting new ones – soaking every last drop of time she and Katara had left.<p>

When she crawled into bed long after Asami had retired for the evening her arms and body were cold like ice. Asami didn't know for certain what Korra and Katara did with their time, but evidently it had something to do with the cold.

"You're freezing," she murmured one night when she felt Korra's chilly arms wrap tightly around her waist.

"Went for a walk with Katara. Warm me up?"

Asami turned in the Avatar's embrace and snuggled in close. "Gladly."

They lapsed into a soft silence – cocooned in warmth and the weight of the things Korra wanted to say but didn't have the words to express. Asami could feel Korra's mind whirring – evidenced by the soft petting of her wife's hand against her hair. Korra only ever played with her hair when something was troubling her. An adorable coping mechanism Asami had figured out two months into their courting.

"She's weak," her wife mumbled dejectedly.

Asami sighed sadly against Korra's shoulder. "I know, darling."

"My soul hurts when I think about her being gone." Korra's chest gave a little half leap in between breaths like a hiccup. Asami felt and heard her heart skip a beat beneath her ear. She knew how hard it was for Korra to vocalize her feelings. She was proud to a fault, although learning everyday to rise above it. "It's like two souls instead of one warring inside of me. On the one hand, part of me is rejoicing. She'll be with Aang – with a part of my soul in the Spirit World. But the other part of me, the part that's just Korra – the little girl who grew up listening to stories of our tribe on Katara's lap and who learned how to waterbend and aspire to be a great Avatar because of her training … she's breaking inside a little."

"Oh sweetheart –" Asami kissed her mouth and wiped her tears, pushing her bangs out of her eyes to look into storming blues. "It's okay to be confused. It's okay to be scared and to wish this wasn't happening. But you have to remember that Katara loves you. She loved you as Aang and she loves you now as Korra. I know for certain that she won't leave you entirely. She'll be reborn and continue to follow your soul."

"You think so?"

Asami kissed her again – she'd do anything to destroy the catch in her wife's voice. Anything to stamp down the fear of losing the woman who had believed in Korra when the Order of the White Lotus had hummed and hawed, shuffling their feet, holding Korra to her prison.

"Trust me."

Korra took in a deep shuddering watery breath and allowed herself to cry. To feel. To accept.

* * *

><p>It took Korra two weeks into their return to Republic City to realize something was amiss. It was a gradual sort of awareness. Like the slow push and pull of the moon on the waves.<p>

It all began with Asami ordering, point blank, that all turtleduck meat be banned from the apartment. She'd had the misfortune of being in a boardroom with some of her shareholders and caught a whiff of a man's lunch which had apparently gone bad. She'd bolted immediately for the nearest bathroom and thoroughly emptied her stomach.

"The smell was _horrid_!" she ranted to Korra that evening as the young Avatar sat at her desk penning letters to Tenzin and Kya respectively. "That guy must be so sick right now. Did you get rid of all our turtleduck meat? I think if I even _see_ a turtleduck breast I'll start to throw up again."

"Yes, dear."

"Good." Asami dropped a kiss on the top of Korra's head. "I'm going to head to bed. I'm exhausted."

Korra turned in her seat at this, truly stunned by Asami's announcement. She leaned one arm across the back of the chair and frowned uncertainly at her wife. "Already? It's barely eight, Asami."

"I'm just really tired. I think I might be a little off after our trip to your parents. I'll be fine if I get an early night, I'm sure."

Korra eyed Asami warily but accepted her words with a nod. "Alright. I'll be there soon."

Asami stopped at the doorway to their shared office and smiled at her wife teasingly. "Don't work too hard."

The next incident occurred two weeks later. Asami hadn't been feeling well for several days following the turtleduck incident. Nausea had been diagnosed by their local healer and ginger prescribed to tackle the ailment. Although a skilled healer in her own right, Korra had not wanted to impede on Healer Po's treatment despite her reservations on _ginger _being the quick fix to Asami's problem; but she was growing more troubled about the state of her wife's health and acquiesced to the new change.

It seemed to somewhat help anyhow. Perhaps because they had ginger _everything_. Biscuits, tea, cake - you name it. If it had ginger the Sato household had it in spades. However, when Asami bolted upright in the wolf hours of the night and raced to the bathroom, heaving loudly and seemingly without pause … well, Korra knew that now was the time to voice her misgivings about Earth Nation healing practices.

That morning, after Asami had recovered from her vomiting spell and burrowed into Korra's protective and somewhat shaky embrace, the Avatar cancelled all of their appointments and drove her wife back to Healer Po's practice. She might or might not have also smashed the secretary's desk in half with a fist as she demanded for someone to attend to them.

"Well," said Healer Po scratching at his beard once they had been led inside a consultation room by a frantic member of staff who'd feared the Avatar's wrath had she not acted accordingly. "I … can't seem to understand what the problem is. Nausea you say? Have you tried the ginger?"

"We've tried the ginger," Korra snarled between clenched teeth. She was leaning back against the farthest wall of the consultation room with her arms crossed and glowering menacingly at the Earth Nation Healer.

Asami, who was lying on the treatment bed, shot her a look and the Avatar had the decency to lower her eyes in submission. Now was not the time for confrontation or hysterics.

"I've been feeling awful for weeks now. And this morning I threw up violently."

"Violently you say," the Healer echoed, looking truly mystified.

"Violently," Korra growled back at him darkly. Again she avoided her wife's gaze despite feeling it's heat.

Healer Po removed his glasses and clipped them around his collar, crossing his arms over his chest. "Well … if it were any other woman lying on this treatment table I'd tell her that her symptoms sounded an awful lot like pregnancy ones."

"That's impossible," Asami said firmly, shaking her head. "We're both women. There must be something else wrong with me."

"Have you missed a bleed in the last several weeks?"

"Well … yes, but—"

Healer Po looked at her meaningfully and then towards the Avatar who'd gone a deathly shade of white. It was clear from the look he was giving them both that he'd expected some foul play from one Miss Sato. He glanced at both women in quick succession to see what fury would erupt and from where.

Korra's arms dropped to her sides and she approached the Healer and Asami with weighty steps. Something had struck her mind – quite like a shot of lightening. She felt dizzy at the thought that … maybe …

"Asami …"

"Korra, don't even go there. It's not possible. I haven't been with any-"

"But Asami … remember … the Avatar State?" She blinked dazedly, tittering on the balls of her feet ... feeling like she might...

Healer Po and Asami surged forward when the Avatar slumped to the ground, unconscious.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Korra

**Review Responses:**

YuriLover24: I wasn't going to include that last titbit but the image just wouldn't leave my head.

soph: Thank you. Yes, I'm looking forward to that myself. Thanks for your continued support.

Spikesagitta (chapter 2): Yeah, the fic bugged a little. I don't necessarily think that all the past Avatar lovers are the same - because then how do you explain Asami and Katara being alive in the same era? But I do like to think that souls stay close to souls throughout each lifetime. It doesn't necessarily mean they end up together but that they connect.

Spikesagitta: Again, I was going to leave that part out but the image of big tough Avatar Korra fainting dead away was too amusing to let go.

Guest96: Thank you.

Aceina: Guess you'll just have to wait and see.

Claire Cooper: I don't think my heart could have taken it. I love my Water Tribe dudes too much. Can you imagine Korra playing 'dad' whenever her kid's significant other comes to the house. Oh man.

maximus17: Thank you, as do I.

Phoebex13: Asami is the queen of their castle and the Avatar knows it. Katara is also my favourite. I was eleven or twelve when the series first came out, and I loved the idea that Katara could match up to any man in both strength and intelligence. It was Aang's second favourite snow-related pastime. Ginger is amazing in biscuits though. New Year, same old me, but with slightly better prospects. Woo!

Amme92: Thank you, here it is.

Anne: The legacy Katara is leaving behind makes it a little easier to accept that she's dying, doesn't it? Yep, Korrasami pregnancy.

Noodles: I think that line was blurted more in the heat of the moment than anything else. A part of Korra definitely wants this to be true - but I think a greater part of her is worried about how quickly everything is unfolding. I think they'll adjust well, though. This was obviously something Korra and Asami both subconsciously wanted.

Curious-browser127: Excited face.

Madam 2012 (chapter 2): Case of the feels, you say? Well, here's hoping this latest chapter doesn't exasperate the problem.

LordTicky: Thank you very much. Also that's madam, not sir. Here's hoping you enjoy the latest chapter.

Madam 2012: I can see that you're excited. No, the male Avatar's did not impregnate anyone. The Avatar State is just a physical manifestation of all the energy of the past Avatars and Rava. I hope you enjoy the next chapter as fervently.

**A/N: **

Chapter 3. Includes smut. Badly written smut, but smut all the same.

* * *

><p>Chapter 4<p>

* * *

><p>The impromptu visit to the Southern Water Tribe had the rumour mill working tenfold. Gossip magazines insisted on the premature rift between the Avatar and the CEO of Future Industries. The trip, they claimed, was Korra and Asami's last ditch attempt at saving their marriage by taking a much needed vacation. More serious papers were instead questioning what kind of political upheaval would force the Avatar to pack her bags so suddenly after her return from the South. And the most pressing issue was why Asami Sato had disappeared <em>with<em> the Avatar to begin with.

For all their speculations about rifts, political instability and business trades … they weren't even close to the truth.

Asami and Korra arrived in the Southern Water Tribe in the twilight hours and retired to bed with little fanfare or conversation. They were still feeling a little blindsided by the possibility of Asami being pregnant and had no wish for word to travel before they'd confirmed anything. In fact, none but Tonraq and Senna knew they had arrived at all.

"Are you quite sure?" Tonraq whispered to his daughter as they watched Senna and Asami embrace at the doorway to the girl's room.

"No," Korra replied numbly. "We're going to have Master Katara confirm tomorrow morning."

"A grandchild," Tonraq mumbled around a smile. He clapped Korra heartily and almost toppled the poor girl over. "Well done, you."

Korra gave him a half-grin, relieved by his apparent excitement to the news. She'd worried over her parents reaction. After all, she and Asami had never discussed growing their family and were married less than a year. Korra had figured that conversation could have waited a few more months. That they would have time to plan and talk things through.

This ... although far from being unwanted (Asami had assured her fervently in the airship when Korra had fretted herself into a tense silence), was not what Korra had in mind. Yes, she'd wanted a child with Asami. Had even found herself daydreaming during particularly boring meetings but ... this was a reality now.

They'd have to prepare for a very real baby that would need clothes, attention, feeding. The very idea made the Avatar woozy.

"We'll leave you girls alone," Senna said around a tearful happy smile. She embraced Korra tightly before being led away by her chuckling husband.

That night Korra and Asami tossed and turned in their large Palace bed, unable to sleep, and left for Katara's before the staff had even roused and the sun had time to rise.

Naga slowed to a slow jog as they neared Master Katara's lodge. She obediently lowered herself at Korra's bequest and lay in the snow, tail happily thumping, as Korra and Asami dismounted and clasped hands.

They were not surprised to find the old waterbender waiting for them at the door of her home, favouring a cane now. Kya's letters had alluded to a rapid decline in her mother's health but neither Korra nor Asami were truly prepared to see Katara with a rasp to her voice which hadn't been present at their last visit, shuffling, or in need of a cane.

She looked smaller, frailer. But her eyes still had that fire and wisdom Asami had come to respect.

"Tonraq said you might come," she said, opening her arms to receive Asami's embrace in the dark of the morning.

"We're sorry that you had to wake so early," Korra whispered as they slipped inside and followed Katara through to the healing room.

"Oh I've always gotten up early. When you've raised Bumi you learn to get up and catch the early mischief."

She instructed Asami to strip down and enter the pool while she and Korra moved into an adjoining room to speak privately. "Is it true?" the Master whispered.

"Yes. We think it might have been due to the Avatar State when we …" Korra rubbed at the back of her neck self-consciously, averting her gaze to the wooden floor. "Anyway, she's been having a lot of pregnancy symptoms and she's missed her bleed so … we just want to be sure. And you're the best healer in the world ..." she trailed off meaningfully.

"Well, now I've seen everything," Katara chuckled, ambling out of the room with Korra at her heel blushing wildly. "Ah, Asami, you're ready. Wonderful. Korra, if you could please step out for a moment."

Korra hesitated. Her body was taught with worry and it showed.

"We won't be long," Katara added, seeing the indecision on the Avatar's face.

"Go on," said Asami reassuringly, "I'll be fine with Master Katara."

Korra relented. "Alright. I'll be right outside."

Asami bit her lip anxiously the moment the curtain flapped behind her wife's retreating form. The water was warm against her skin and it did make her feel a little less chaotic inside her own mind. But the sight of Master Katara kneeling on the mat beside the pool and raising her hands to begin the inspection made her heart thump hard in her chest. Even though she'd sent Korra away everything inside her wanted to call her back again.

"It's quite alright," Katara murmured into the quiet as her hands began to move and the water turned blue and cool against Asami's body. "Relax your mind. You are safe here."

Asami took a deep breath and released it slowly, taking Katara's words to heart. Time seemed to melt as she upheld this little ritual. She could hear Katara working but it seemed insignificant. Whatever outcome of this visit she knew one thing for certain. She would get through this. She and Korra. She was safe here.

"Congratulations," she heard Katara murmur from beside after an hazy amount of time had passed. "You are indeed carrying Avatar Korra's child. The spirit energy is unlike anything I've ever felt."

Asami gasped and lurched in the water causing a resulting splash which soaked the waterbender's knees and forearms. Katara merely laughed and flicked her fingers to evaporate the moisture. "I'm pregnant?!"

"A few weeks along, yes."

"Oh Spirits …"

She and Katara turned in time to hear and Korra barrel into the room, head swivelling to and fro in clear alarm. "I heard screaming! Is everything alright? Asami?"

"I'm pregnant!" Asami wailed and Katara held her sides and laughed great bellying laughs as Avatar Korra dove into the healing pool fully clothed and without preamble to kiss her wife.

When they broke apart she twirled them in the water, both crying.

"The Avatar State?" Korra struggled to ask.

"The Avatar State," Katara confirmed. She folded her hands on her lap and watched the reincarnation of her late husband clutch at her wife and smile through the tears, pressing her face into dark wet hair.

"I can't believe it," Asami whispered pulling back to look into Korra's bright eyes. "There's a little you in here!" And she pulled Korra's hands from around her waist to her abdomen and smiled at the Avatar's splaying fingers.

Korra's gaze was brilliantly wide and emotive as she gently pressed her fingertips against the smooth skin of her wife's stomach. She was smiling tearfully and glancing rapidly from Asami to Katara, looking like the excited eight year old who'd mastered waterbending all those years ago. Proud, elated, if a little overwhelmed by what she'd done.

Katara smirked.

"A little me," Korra breathed in awe.

When Asami was dressed and Korra had waterbended and airbended the moisture out of her clothes, they took a moment to fully grasp what was happening to them. Katara allowed them this time and went about draining the pool, keeping one watchful eye on the two huddled on a bench in the corner.

"We're going to have to move all of your workout equipment into another room to make a nursery."

"Into another room? There is no other room!"

"I suppose we'll have to get a new place."

"I saw some nice houses on one of my runs with Naga. We can check them out when we get back to the city."

"Oh Spirits, this is actually happening …"

"It really is."

They crumbled together and Katara thought of Aang's hands on the swell of her bump and felt a soft and old joy balloon in her chest.

* * *

><p>That evening after Korra had tucked Asami into bed and pressed a dizzying amount of kisses to a taught stomach and smiling lips, she made the short trip on Naga to Katara's lodge and walked inside to find the older Master listening to the radio and humming along to the band that was playing. The hearth was ablaze, the lighting was low, and Korra was dripping melted snow on the clean wooden floors.<p>

"I'm going to be a mother," she blurted. It was the only thing she could think to say.

Katara didn't even look surprised that Korra had showed up and merely gestured for the Avatar to take the opposite armchair by the hearth. Korra did so numbly and had trouble relaxing into the fur pelts. She leaned her elbows against her knees instead and stared into the crackling flames thoughtfully.

"How is Asami?"

"Overjoyed."

"A little scared too?"

Korra's shoulders bunched under her ears. "Yeah. We both are. We never really talked about being parents before and now ... it's happening. Don't get me wrong, we're thrilled. I think we always wanted this - it just would have been nice to have been able to plan."

Katara inclined her head sympathetically. "It will take some time to adjust to, granted. But I believe that you and Asami will be wonderful parents."

"You really think so?"

"Trust your instincts, Korra. You've been a parent before, even if you don't remember it." Katara smiled at her affectionately, the golden glow of the fire dancing across her tired blue eyes. "But seeing you protect and care for that wife of yours today tells me that you will do so one hundredfold for your child."

"With my last breath," Korra said solemnly. She looked much like her father in that moment. Strong and determined.

"And Asami will do likewise. I see how she looks at you, how she protects you in turn. Do not be afraid."

"It's hard not to be," Korra mumbled as she moved to lay another log into the dying flames. "When I look at the world and all its dangers I worry I won't be enough to protect them."

Katara chortled and when Korra turned to look at her she said, "That's something Aang said to me a long time ago. Now I _know_ you'll be fine."

* * *

><p>When it was revealed that there were no political coups that the Avatar had been forced to squash, and it was merely a baby which had sent the entire world in to a tizzy, newspapers began to sell like hotcakes. Everyone wanted to catch a glimpse of the soon-to-be parents and it was becoming harder for Asami to work under conditions where paparazzi were willing to hide behind office plants to get a snap of her still undetectable bump.<p>

They followed her to the office, they followed her to lunch, they followed her _home_. She knew this thanks to Naga. Their ever faithful polar bear dog had rushed into their living room one evening with a terrified reporter clenched gently between her jaws, shaking him repeatedly, trying to persuade Asami to play fetch. The man had apparently snuck in through the ventilation system of the apartment and landed none too gently on a snoozing Naga in Asami and Korra's bedroom.

Korra had delivered him personally to Chief Beifong and had the honour of throwing his smashed camera into the cell with him.

But it wasn't just Asami they were targeting. Korra herself had faced similar problems. The press _hounded_ her. Her work as the Avatar had quickly been overshadowed by the imminence of a new baby and reporters were hungry for news. Was she looking forward to being a mother? Would she find it difficult to juggle motherhood while being the Avatar? And what was all this nonsense about the Avatar State conceiving human beings?

"Do you really expect us to believe that your spiritual mumbo jumbo got Lady Asami pregnant?" one reporter had thrown at her during her daily run, sprinting beside the Avatar.

Korra had merely stopped and pointed at the very large and very ominous looking portal in the distance, as if to say, _are you really going to argue with me about this when I single-handedly opened a new portal to the Spirit World_?

The headlines that following morning proclaimed: AVATAR AND CEO CONCEIVE THANKS TO SPIRITS

"It says here," Asami had read out to her during breakfast, "That we took a pilgrimage to the Spirit World through the Spirit Portal and were blessed by the Spirits of Conception."

Korra's head had slumped to the table.

But, apart from the media frenzy, Asami and Korra were walking on air.

Korra spent long hours wrapped around Asami's stomach talking to the baby animatedly. She told it made up stories, she told it real ones, she sang, she rubbed the pale skin under her palms and pressed her lips slightly below the navel whenever the mood struck. Asami usually sat in her armchair with one hand in Korra's hair and the other holding whatever Varrick's latest proposal for the week was, while she marinated in Korra's adoration.

"You think he can hear me in there?" Korra asked her one evening, eyeing the tiny pooch to her wife's stomach as they listened to the radio, sprawled out together on the couch.

"I don't know," Asami giggled, one hand pressing under the small bump protectively. "I like to think so."

Korra smiled and leaned up over Asami's body to kiss her sweetly. "Hmm, I hope he can't hear _everything_." She waggled her eyebrows suggestively and carefully lowered herself down atop her wife.

Asami flushed with want. Korra was ravenous in the aftermath of their baby's conception. Admittedly, so was Asami. They were never close enough and each kiss was far too short. They made love gently but for long stretches of the night, revelling in the connection of their hearts and bodies.

Tonight looked like no exception.

Asami wrapped her arms around Korra's neck and heard the Avatar groan low in her chest as tongues slid tenderly and hips met. Asami had managed to lift the Avatar's shirt over her head before the telephone rang and they were forced to stop, leaning foreheads and breathing heavily.

Korra groaned anew. This time for a very different reason.

"We should get that," Asami puffed against Korra's jaw, lips skimming across her skin and pressing at the corner of her mouth feverishly.

"We should." Korra gasped before crushing their mouths for one final bruising kiss which left Asami clenching her hands around her wife's neck to hold her still.

A topless Avatar Korra then somersaulted off the couch and jogged out of the living room while her wife tried to regain some measure of control over her heart rate.

Asami took this time to rid herself of her own shirt and slacks anticipating Korra's hunger upon her return. She could faintly hear the other woman's voice addressing someone over the line and smiled at her 'Serious Avatar Business' tone. They'd worked on Korra's phone manner extensively.

She padded slowly into the foyer to find Korra was hunched over the cradle of the phone at her ear. "Yes," said the Avatar with a frustrated sort of politeness, "Of course I can meet tomorrow evening … A pleasure speaking with you too, President Raiko. Goodnight."

Asami smirked at the gasp that fell from her wife's lips when she turned and beheld the glorious form of a very naked CEO standing in the middle of their foyer. Asami let one of her fingers run tantalizingly across her clavicle and down the dip between her breasts. Korra swallowed as she followed the movements rapturously.

"Was there something you were going to do, Mrs. Sato?" Asami taunted lowly, watching the Avatar's eyes turn dark with lust.

Korra took two powerful strides before she hoisted Asami into her arms. The woman squealed and laughed all in the same breath. She wrapped her legs around her wife's waist as they kissed messily – too happy and stirred to worry about finesse.

"Love you," Asami mumbled between kisses.

Korra squeezed her rear and grinned at Asami's tinkling laugh as she walked them slowly through the house to their bedroom. When she laid Asami down on their sheets she dipped her head to press an open mouthed kiss to her stomach.

"I love you," she whispered to the life pulsing, growing.

Then, she crawled across her wife's body and kissed her hard, deep. "I love _you_."

"Show me," Asami husked.

Korra grinned before laying a path of scorching kisses down her neck and clavicle until she'd reached Asami's heaving breasts. They had softened, _grown_ - in preparation for their child's milk. Korra lathered the skin with wet open mouthed kisses and groaned lustfully around a dusky nipple when Asami moaned and clenched a hand in her hair.

She nipped and sucked to her heart's content, canting slightly into her wife with every stroke of her tongue, gently massaging the neglected breast with her free hand. When Asami began to keen in earnest, Korra raised her head and let the nipple plop from her mouth.

"Get on your back," the CEO growled.

When Korra had completed the instructed task, Asami moved to sit in the cradle of her pelvis. The feel of searing wet heat on her stomach caused the Avatar to hiss in pleasure and grasp pale hips between her hands - trying to encourage her wife to move.

Asami began to rock slowly, pressing her clit against Korra's sharp hip bone on every down-stroke. Korra moaned throatily at the look of pure pleasure seared across the other woman's face and moved a hand to stroke below Asami's navel in encouragement.

When a deep flush began to spread across Asami's neck and breast, and her wife began to rut more intensely, Korra shot up and latched her mouth to the base of her wife's throat. She dutifully plunged her fingers into the quick of Asami's heat and tried to contain a gasp of her own when Asami cried out and began to ride her fingers desperately. It was all hot molten heat from there. Warm breath against her forehead made goosebumps erupt across her arms and when Asami cradled her face and pulled her into a deep searching kiss, Korra was lost to the world.

Asami came hard, and moaning into her wife's mouth. Her hips bucked against Korra's fingers - walls pulsing and sucking the Avatar in more deeply.

"Of fuuuuuuuuck," she whined, throwing her head back and gasping for air. "You're so good."

Korra laughed breathlessly and fell back into the cushions. Asami leaned one hand back to support herself as she rode the last of the aftershocks before moving off of the Avatar and collapsing at her side. They lay there, spent, before the CEO of Future Industries slithered down to the dazed Avatar's core and began to gently lap at glistening folds.

"Keep doing that," the Avatar mewled, hands fisting in the bed sheets on either side.

So Asami Sato did.

And Avatar Korra came so tremendously hard the room shook and Naga began to bark in annoyance from her favourite spot in the bathtub.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Korra

**Review Responses:**

Guest: Are you a psychic ... ?

Miguel51: Korra handling the press in her brutal Water Tribe manner will always be my favourite thing.

Girl child: I understand that you really want Korra and Asami's child to be a girl. For the sake of _my_ narrative, Korra and Asami's baby was ALWAYS going to be a certain gender because it fit the plotline.

Madam 2012: I'm honoured to have taken your gay-ship virginity.

Guest: I am very sorry for your loss. My reason for writing Wanting Hope is in part, to also reconcile my own great-grandmother's approaching death. So I completely understand. Korra and I are with you.

Noodles: You're welcome. Jealous Korra won't actually feature I'm afraid. Perhaps towards the end of the fic.

Claire Cooper: I've been keeping up with most of Swani's fics myself. Protective Korra is life and my personal headcanon. Wouldn't it be great to have a picture of that? Anyone even remotely good at art - get on that.

soph: Naga is silently suffering.

Spikesagitta: I have a feeling Korra will fumble a bit with being a mother while Asami will be a natural.

maximus17: Gracias!

Phoebex13: Naga in a bath tub is my favourite image of that entire chapter. Katara and Korra's relationship is one born of mutual respect and admiration. I think Korra went to her as a child, and asked about the world outside of the compound walls. Katara was her escape.

Curious-browser127: Thank you, I'm a little relieved.

La5021: Oh, thank you. I'm blushing. You're my new favourite reviewer.

LordTicky: I'm sorry, that came off really mean! I meant it as a joke, honestly. Hahaha, I know. It's such a great image.

Aceina: Thank you.

**A/N:**

Next update will be two weeks from now. Thanks for all your support. You guys keep me going.

* * *

><p>Chapter 5<p>

* * *

><p>Asami was six months pregnant during their next visit to the Southern Water Tribe. Women fluttered to her side from dawn to dusk with questions and advice that made both Asami and Korra's head reel. There were so many things they hadn't considered. Where would they have the baby? In Republic City or here in the Water Nations? Had they picked the child's spiritual guardian? Would they sing the child into the world or whisper a prayer?<p>

"We … haven't really thought about it all that much," Asami said regretfully to her mother-in-law's friend. She tried to catch Korra's eye from across the ballroom but her wife was deep in conversation with Mako, Bolin and Opal.

"You should," the woman pressed, leaning in a little too close for Asami's comfort. She'd cornered her quite some time ago by the musician's pit. It was obvious she meant no harm but Asami felt the baby move abruptly, startled because she was startled. "We are very proud of our heritage and traditions."

"Oh yes I know," Asami laughed weakly. "Korra still insists on Stewed Seaprune Sundays."

The lady looked well mollified by this sliver of information. And still Asami tried not to visibly sigh in relief when Tonraq sidled up to them and greeted her with a warm smile and an equally warm arm around her shoulders.

"You're not scaring my daughter-in-law I hope, Hamin?"

"Of course not, Chief Tonraq."

"Good. You won't mind if I steal her away for a moment? There are some people who have not had the pleasure of meeting Asami quite yet." He didn't wait for Hamin to respond and merely led Asami away and towards Senna and Kya.

"There's the woman of the hour!" Kya exclaimed when they saw the two approaching. She gestured at the bump hiding under Asami's dress excitedly. "And there he is! My sort of spiritual brother or sister!"

Asami smiled as she allowed Kya's hands to frame her bump and feel the fluttering of the tiny person inside. "That's amazing," the waterbender proclaimed stepping back after a few moments.

"He's been moving around a lot these past few days," Asami winced. She dismissed her father-in-law's helping hand away with a small shake of her head. "I'm fine. Thank you, Tonraq. He just likes to wedge his feet under my ribs."

"Goodness," said Senna sympathetically, "Korra used to do that too."

"Must be all this fresh Southern Water Tribe air," Kyra supplied helpfully, "Dad used to swear by it."

Asami paused. It was true that the baby had been increasingly more active these past few days since they'd touched down in the Southern Water Tribe. Surely he didn't know where they were? Then again – Asami had to actively remind herself – this was the Avatar's child. Who knew what kind of mystical spiritual awareness he'd inherited.

"So this is where they're hiding all the party animals!"

It was Bolin. He was swaggering their way, Opal at his arm, Mako at his side, and Korra at the rear of the group shaking her head like she'd regretted sending him an invitation to begin with. Asami hugged everyone in turn and frowned pointedly at her wife for having abandoned her at the start of the party. Korra must have received the message loud and clear because she shuffled her feet awkwardly and had the good sense to look abashed.

"It's wonderful to see you all," she said, tearing her glare away from her wife and softening up.

"Well we couldn't have missed your first anniversary party!"

"Even if it was in the Water Nations," Opal added. "Is there a reason why you moved locations so abruptly?"

The Water Tribe individuals present, including Asami, looked at each other uncomfortably. No one knew how to answer the young airbender. Asami looked at her wife and noticed the hardening of her jaw and the darkening of her eyes as she turned her head away.

It was Kya who took the reins. "Mom hasn't been feeling very well lately and couldn't travel. Korra and Asami decided to have their party here to include her."

And before anyone could dig deeper Tonraq and Senna quickly shepherded Bolin and Opal towards some dignitaries with loud exclamations of "Sekka, have you met our personal friend the mover star yet?", leaving Mako, Korra, Asami and Kaya standing together awkwardly.

"So ..." Mako elongated the word as he tried to grasp at something further to say. Korra, Kya and Asami did not look like three women who were celebrating a joyous occasion. It was putting him decidedly on edge. "You're getting ... big?" He winced visibly and held his hands up in surrender when something dark passed over Korra's face at his unintentional jibe at her wife's physical appearance. "Sorry! More pregnant! That's what I meant to say, I swear!"

"It's okay, Mako," Asami giggled taking one of Korra's hands in her own and squeezing. "I am rather rotund."

"Beautifully rotund," Korra said quietly. She was far away though. Her eyes weren't on her wife, or Mako, or anyone in particular.

"Senna says Korra had a very pudgy belly when she was younger so I'm expecting a big baby," Asami ran a hand lovingly over her covered bump.

Mako smiled at the action and his hand reached out before halting in mid-air, hesitant. He glanced up to the two women he'd once loved and let his fingers touch the blue silk of Asami's dress at their reassuring nods. When he felt the slightest nudge against his palm he broke out into a brilliant if surprised smile.

"Did you feel that?" he threw at Asami, his excitement bubbling, "He kicked my hand!"

"He did to me too!" Kya said at Korra's elbow. "He'll be strong, that's for sure."

"Oh of that I have no doubt," said a gravelly voice to their right. When they turned their attention to the speaker and saw who it was, Korra and Asami instantly mobbed Master Katara with hugs and words of gratitude for her attendance at their anniversary party.

Katara was wheelchair bound now and when she spoke it was in deep rasping breaths like she was finding it harder and harder to draw in air. A young girl of about eighteen was behind the chair waiting patiently for her next instruction. Now that Asami thought about it, hadn't Kya mentioned something about a full time attendant now living with Master Katara?

"I wouldn't have missed it for anything," the old waterbender assured them as she clasped Asami's hands in her own. "You have done me a great service by hosting it here in the Southern Water Tribe. Thank you."

"Anything for you," Korra said firmly.

* * *

><p>"How are you, honestly?"<p>

Katara sighed. A throw had been flung over her shoulders and two blankets were over her lap keeping her warm. Yet, even with all these added amenities her body still quivered in coughing fits every half hour or so and she couldn't speak to anyone for too long before feeling the pull of exhaustion.

"Not very well."

Asami leaned back against her chair. One eye was on Korra dancing with a surefooted and graceful Tenzin, the other on Master Katara looking dog-tired and a little forlorn. She'd put on a good show for Korra most of the night and was only now allowing herself to deflate.

They were seated at one of the tables which straddled along the perimeter of the ballroom. They were also alone; being two of the few people not quite equipped to handle the dancefloor, and had lapsed into a comfortable silence watching their friends and family make fools of themselves. Even Katara's attendant had been whisked away for a dance with Mako some time ago.

"Is there anything that can be done? Any healers we could—"

Katara chuckled, tickled by Asami's naivety, "Against time? Against old age? No, dear. There is nothing to be done."

And when Katara said it like that … well, Asami felt a little foolish. Of course there was no cure against old age. It was nature at its cruellest and being bonded to the Avatar meant that Asami knew one thing – one could not fight nature.

"You'll mind her won't you? She likes to appear tough but … she's such a sensitive thing." Katara was looking at Korra. The Avatar caught them watching and gave a shy wave before being flung back into her dance.

"I will."

Asami felt the baby shift low inside her and begin another round of martial arts practice. The expression it encouraged on her face must have alarmed Katara because the old Master surged forward and spread an open palm against her bump. The baby promptly settled and Asami felt a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, release.

Her eyes widened at the old waterbender. "She never settles that fast. How did you do that?"

Katara smiled mysteriously, ignoring the engineer's question entirely. "You said 'she'. Everyone has been calling it a 'he'. Including you."

Asami linked her hands atop the bump and avoided the Master's gaze. "Korra thinks it will be a boy."

"Not you."

Asami shook her head slowly. "A girl," she murmured. She glanced up at Katara and smiled. It was no more than a nervous tilt of the lips really. "I think it's a girl. It feels like one. Like an energy –"

"- that is gentle but powerful. Yes." Katara's hand gave a slow stroke and it looked like she was concentrating hard on something. "She will be a very powerful bender. And a very kind and gentle soul."

"A bender?" Asami's voice was small with awe. She sought Korra immediately through the crowd of dancers but found her wife now otherwise engaged with their friends and some members of the Northern Water Tribe. She bit her bottom lip, feeling her chest tighten pleasantly, wanting to share this knowledge with _someone_.

"A waterbender."

Her neck snapped in Katara's direction. "Really?"

Katara smiled at her. "I am seldom wrong."

Asami beamed down at her swollen abdomen and the urge to tell Korra this amazing news was mounting every single moment they were apart. They were having a girl. A waterbender, even! Korra would be so elated and proud. She could already visualize that half surprised grin of hers, brows crinkling in happy astonishment.

Of course, they wouldn't have minded a non-bender in the slightest. They'd only hoped for a happy healthy baby. The fact that there was a baby to hope over at all was a small miracle.

"Will you be following the old traditions for the birth?" Katara's voice filtered through Asami's foggy mind.

"I think I would like to," Asami replied after a thoughtful pause. She'd had the same question hurtled at her all night but it was only now in Katara's tranquil presence that she'd stopped to contemplate what that might mean.

What were Water Tribe deliveries even like? Was Korra expected to hunt something? Were drums involved – as they were now? The traditional Water Tribe musicians had been banging on their animal skin drums all night as people milled about the ballroom, and Asami winced to think of them stationed outside the room while she gave birth.

Sensing her confusion and apparent apprehension on the subject, Katara was quick to reassure; "It's simple really. The Kisuliuq will be with you to help deliver the baby. Because this is the Avatar's child you may be attended to by angakkuq who will stand guard at the entrance to remove harmful spirits and restore spiritual balance."

Asami blinked at the barrage of jargon Katara was fielding her way. A Kisuliuq? Angakkuq? What did that even _mean_?

"If you choose to give birth in the Water Nations you'll do so either here in the Palace or in an aanigutyak, which is a birthing hut."

"No birthing huts." Asami made a face at the thought. If she was going to go down this road then she'd have all the comforts of their home away from home.

Katara's raspy laugh made Asami smile, despite it all. "Very well. When you finally have your baby in yours arms a person of your own choosing called the arnaliaq will check to see if it is a girl or a boy. This person will then have a lifelong role in the child's life."

"Like a spiritual guardian? A lot of people have been mentioning that to me."

"Exactly. My brother was tasked with being Bumi, Kya and Tenzin's arnaliaq. That doesn't mean it has to be a family member. A lot of people choose a family friend or an honoured member of the tribe."

Asami wanted to ask more – wanted to pick at Katara's brain for more information about what raising her child in the Water Nations would entail. The delivery was only the first hurdle. What happened after? How would she navigate the customs and traditions of a hallowed people when she herself didn't even uphold her own? Asami had only followed one path in her life – that of innovation. Would she be able to look to the past when she'd always strived for the future?

But the questions stuck in her throat like bad turtleduck meat.

"You'll do fine." Katara pat her forearm fondly when Asami turned red and words would simply not materialize. "And feel free to modernize our traditions a little. Your child won't just be Water Tribe, she'll be a member of a new world, too."

* * *

><p>When the party wrapped up and their guests turned in for the night after well wishes and many congratulations, Korra and Asami decided to walk arm in arm around the main courtyard of the Palace. They'd enjoyed themselves tremendously and had delighted in seeing all their friends united to share their happiness. That being said, they hadn't had a moment to themselves all evening and Asami could feel Korra's impatience and fretfulness over their separation when her arm wound tight around her waist and refused to let go during goodnight embraces with Senna and Tonraq.<p>

And so, Asami let herself be led outside and couldn't decipher the expression on her love's face as they meandered along the small pathway in the courtyard. Korra's brow was heavy and her eyes looked weary as she stopped them on the veranda overlooking the village. But her body was warm and her arms were steady, and she held Asami and pointed out constellations, recounting the story of Princess Yue for what felt like the millionth time.

Asami turned into her shoulder and nuzzled the high collar of Korra's traditional Water Tribe dress as her wife's voice lulled her into a dozing sort of content. When Korra wrapped the tale up with her usual, "… and the waterbenders felt their bending return in a powerful rush like a surging wave, and celebrated their princess's sacrifice" Asami raised her head to take in the beautiful glowing crescent moon keeping them company.

"The end," Asami whispered against Korra's cheek.

Korra raised her eyes to the skies and nodded. Moonlight fractured across her face in slants and dips.

"So … waterbenders get _all_ of their power from the moon?"

Korra tucked a piece of Asami's hair behind her ear and smiled gently, touched that she wanted to understand. "The legends say the moon was the first waterbender. Our ancestors saw how it pushed and pulled the tides and learned how to do it themselves. Our strength comes from the Spirit of the Moon, our life comes from the Spirit of the Ocean. They work together to keep balance. Without the Moon we are a broken half and there would be no waterbenders of any kind. If Princess Yue hadn't given herself to Tui and La the Avatar cycle couldn't have continued even if Aang had succeeded in ending the war. There would have been no waterbenders to reincarnate into."

"That's …" Asami blinked at the moon, trying to picture a young princess laying her life for her people, saving the world in the process. "… incredible." Then a thought struck her violently. "Wait … isn't your family in charge of the Northern Water Tribe?"

Korra turned her head to look at her, eyebrow arching. "Yeah?"

Asami stared at her. Pointedly. "Doesn't that make you related to her?" she asked, and bit back a laugh as a look of dawning washed over the Avatar. Then, alarm.

"Oh. My. Spirits." Korra's eyes bulged. "I'm related to the MOON?!"

"I have married into the strangest family," Asami mused while Korra continue to babble about the absurdity of her family tree and _why hadn't anyone told her this sooner_?

After Korra's momentary shock subsided and her _relative_ became obscured by some passing clouds, the two women simply enjoyed the night air and the lantern lights glowing in the dark of the night below them. It was cold – freezing actually, but Korra kept frostbite at bay by bundling them under the cape that had been fastened to her dress. It created an extra layer of warmth that Korra supplemented with gentle firebending.

"This is nice," Asami murmured against Korra's forehead, lips tickling the skin like the faintest kiss.

It _was_ nice. Korra's hands were at the small of her back and on the swell of her stomach respectively, cooing gently to the small life residing there. The landscape was beautiful, they were fed and their throats hurt from talking and laughing with friends. Yes, there was a lot of work awaiting them in the morning. Korra had to meet with the Elders of both Tribes and Asami had to visit the Future Industries Southern Water Tribe headquarters and see how construction was coming along. But right now, right this second, none of that mattered.

"He's practicing his kicks in there," Korra whispered, grinning impishly. "Shhh, sweetheart." She rubbed a hand gently along Asami's stomach. "Be gentle with Mommy. You've been giving her a hard time since we got here."

Now, Asami thought. Now is the time to tell her.

"Katara told me why that might be," she said. Korra's head tipped up to meet hers, questioning.

"Yeah?" she sounded frightened. Her hand on Asami's back moved up over her shoulder blades and wrapped around the nape of her neck. "Everything's okay, right?"

"Well, you're definitely going to have to stop calling it a 'he'."

"What?"

"We're having a baby girl."

Korra's arms tightened around her and tears sprung to her eyes. "Really?" she whimpered, a beautiful smile blossoming on her face. "Katara said that?"

"Apparently she's never wrong," Asami said gleefully, taking her wife's cheeks in her palms and rubbing the escaping tears away.

"Try never," the Avatar giggled wetly. "Wow … I – that's amazing. Asami, we're having a girl!"

"It gets better."

Korra shook her head stubbornly. "No, I don't think it does."

"What if I told you your daughter was a waterbender?"

Korra went very still. And very silent. Asami waited ten seconds, then thirty, and had reached a full minute before biting her bottom lip and looking deep into Korra's eyes, trying to decide how she was reacting to the news.

"My daughter is a waterbender?" Korra said at last, and then her lips were on Asami's. They were gentle, like a rainfall. When she pulled back she was grinning dazedly at her. "I don't care."

That was not something Asami had expected her to say. Her jaw slackened and fell open. "What? I thought you'd be ecstatic!"

"I am!" Korra said, blinking hard at the affront in Asami's tone, "But I don't care about her being a bender! She could have been a fartbender for all that it matters to me. I just want her to be healthy and happy. Everything else is just an added bonus."

"Well she's a waterbender. And apparently being here has kicked her Water Nation personality into high gear. She wants to waterbend with her Mama and she wants to do it _now_."

Korra kissed her again. It was all soft tongues and gentle nips. Asami sighed dreamily into her wife's mouth and tried not to whine when she pulled back. They had a big empty bed just a few stairs away. She could wait.

She looked at Korra, bathed in moonlight, with her eyes full of love and pride.

Okay, maybe she couldn't.

"Let's go inside."

Korra agreed and they left the veranda and the moon behind.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Korra

**Review Responses:**

Claire Cooper: The dream. Imagine if I pulled a switcheroo and made it twins? Cliché is good sometimes.

Miguel51: Yes, yes he would.

LordTicky: I think Mako would take the task of being arnaliaq very seriously. Thank you, I hope the wait was worth it.

Guest: Sorry about the wait!

Aceina: Thank you.

RicchanxMio: I aim to please. Thank you very much.

Wiz In Training: Oh goodness, don't be losing sleep over the chapters! They'll be there in the morning for you to enjoy. I'm very happy you like my writing style. Thanks for the words of praise on the smut writing (it's my Achilles heel, lol) I'm sorry about the wait.

Curious-browser127: Korra's respect to Katara is unparalleled. Actually someone else pointed it out on tumblr so I can't take the credit I'm afraid.

emily-stafford-5855: Wow, thank you. I really try to articulate a relationship between them that sounds real and intimate without being cringe worthy, so it means a lot that someone else thinks I've hit the nail on the head. Sorry about the wait.

maximus17: Thank you!

Phoebex13: Korra and her pudgy belly are everything. Everything. Being related to the moon is the most awesome thing ever but oh my god imagine the weird time Korra's going to have when she tells her kid they're related to the thing in the sky? You're awesome too.

Spikesagitta: I hate that 'he' is synonymous with neutrality but there you have it.

IllogicalMuse: Shhh, don't divulge the secret, lol. I'm very glad that you like both my writing style and the themes broached in this story. This review has indeed inspired me and I thank you for having given me these words of encouragement during a trialling time in my life. All the best.

kapaowie: Thank you for your kind words!

Madam 2012: I'm not ready for it either. Thank you!

Guest: Me too, Guest. Me too.

WordsToShare: Thank you so much. I have indeed started writing this because of a loss. Well, a pre-emptive loss. My great-grandmother hasn't passed yet but it's on the way and I've been trying to wrestle with the notion that she won't be with us for much longer. I am very sorry about your mother and hope that your story went some way in helping you to heal. I too, hope that this story has helped you in some way. Or alleviated some of your heartache. Thank you for your kind words.

Jay aka Jordan: It does seem to be everyone's headcanon, huh?

Dimensional Lover: Thank you. Yes, that's what I was going for, lol. Katara is and always will be my favourite ATLA character and I was a little disappointed that they hadn't given her a bigger role in Korra's narrative. Thank you, here's hoping you like this latest instalment.

E-Weste: I like to think Mako fumbles a bit in the presence of his two ex-girlfriends. Me too.

Guest: Well, I'm very glad you took a chance on it.

Ryoko05: Thank you, dear. Hope you enjoy the next chapter.

Guest: Thank you, I'm glad.

Noodles: I'm very glad you like the story thus far. And don't worry about reviewing, I don't really mind.

Olympus - 117: Thank you, I most certainly will.

Guest: Oh no. However will I cope.

valathe: I'm ... sorry? Maybe put this on the back burner for a while lol.

slizzycutepizza: Thank you.

Guest: Thank you, tune in!

Nawori: Thank you, and yes I am.

Wolf: There you go, Wolf.

HazelE: Thank you. Tune in to find out!

**A/N:**

I'm sorry for the delay. I had some real life shit to take care of. We're mostly back to our scheduled programming.

* * *

><p>Chapter 6<p>

* * *

><p>When Asami and Korra were wed, they hadn't conformed themselves to a traditional Water Tribe wedding like Tonraq and Senna had been expecting. Like the world had been expecting, actually. Korra had never alluded to wanting one anyway and Asami had never asked.<p>

Instead they'd married on Air Temple Island in the company of hundreds of spirits. Tenzin had officiated, speaking soft words of love and commitment to the small gathering of Air Acolytes, airbenders and family members in attendance. It had been nightfall and Korra's eyes had reflected the light of the Spirit Portal in the distance, conveying the same emotions they had all those years ago – a young fully realized Avatar opening her heart to a girl who had lost her father and needed to get _away_.

They'd smashed cake against each other's faces and danced cheek to cheek as the sun rose and blossomed in pink, orange and golden hues over their guests. After, they'd made slow love in their own bed in Republic City and thought very little of the Water Nation guests' traditional wedding robes. Of Tonraq's solemn toast delivered in the form of a prayer.

Now, it was all Asami could think about.

"Are you sure about this?" Korra asked her again, looking puzzled by her wife's determination to uncover all there was to know about Water Nation culture. "There's nothing that says we can't have the baby in Republic City."

Asami turned the page of her book. There were stacks and stacks of books piled high around the office of their new home, all written about the Water Nations. Any curious minds intent on taking a trip to the city library to take out a Water Tribe book would be sorely disappointed. One Asami Sato had beaten them to it.

She made an absent sound of agreement and continued to read and thus missed Korra's huff as the Avatar moved across the room and parked herself on the window seat (one of the many features that had enamoured Korra to the house), looking out over their garden.

Their new house had been one of the thousands rebuilt from the rubble of the old Republic City. Asami had been concerned by its mismatched brickwork and the staggering amount of spirits which huddled atop the roof looking out to the Spirit Portal. But Korra had fallen in love at first sight and pulled her wife from room to room with a childlike excitement. She marvelled over the fireplace, at the homely kitchen which so reminded her of Senna's, and the six large bedrooms - one of which had since been renovated into a nursery.

But the garden was what had really clinched the sale. Korra had taken one look at the flowers, the handcrafted wall made of stones along its edges, the spirits frolicking through the high grass, and smiled so widely her cheeks must have hurt for days. Later, she'd admitted to Asami that she'd had a vision of them picnicking under a sweltering summer sun with a toddler squishing it's grubby hands into the potato salad. She'd known, then. Known that this is where she wanted them to raise their family.

"Did you know that in Water Nation culture, an infant's name represents an important factor in his or her behaviour? In particular, the Water Tribes believed that crying was an indication that the infant wanted to have a particular name. And that often once named, the infant would stop crying?"

Korra sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I do now."

"This is fascinating, Korra! Why aren't you even a little curious about your own heritage? You're the one always telling me those Water Tribe stories."

Korra shrugged and picked at a loose thread in her boots. "Because they're cool," she mumbled contritely. "They're all _bam_, _crash_, _spirit power_ and warriors fighting for honour …. y'know? What you're looking up is just boring old Water Tribe superstitions."

Asami's eyes narrowed in annoyance. She waved the book aloft and resisted the urge to lob it at the other woman's head. "These are important, Korra! Our daughter is part of a rich and amazing culture that we should be able to share with her."

Korra opened her mouth to argue – "And _not_ just the stories and parts where warriors clunk people's heads together!" and promptly closed it again.

"Well what about her Fire Nation roots," the Avatar demanded, "Are we just going to forget about those?"

"I'm a fourth generation colonist, Korra! I don't know the first thing about the Fire Nation!"

Korra deflated visibly and gestured for Asami to lower her weapon. "Okay, I get it. This is important to you for some reason. I promise to be more supportive."

"It should be important to you too," Asami grumbled. She put the book down and moved to shift out of her chair and towards Korra, features softening at her wife's pout.

She couldn't understand it. Korra was so painfully … _Water Tribe_. Since the first time they had laid eyes on each other, Asami had marvelled over her bronze skin and deep soulful blue eyes, the trademark of the Water Nations. When Korra spoke it was with a smokey timbre – like she's inhaled the fumes of a warm hearth and told ancient tales around its flames. And her body … it was a body carved by glaciers and snowbanks, moulded by the wind and sculpted by the sea.

Korra opened her arms and Asami sunk into them gratefully, one hand moving to hold her widened stomach and mind the life inside.

"I just don't understand how you can be so _alive_ when you go home and yet … not want to dig deeper and understand why it is that you feel that way," Asami whispered as Korra interlaced their hands on instinct.

Korra nuzzled the back of her neck. "I know why I feel that way and it has nothing to do with Water Tribe customs, Asami."

Asami twisted, as much as she was able in her state, and looked her wife in the eyes. "Then why?"

Korra smiled softly and touched their noses together like the gentlest of snowdrop kisses. "I'm _alive_ –" she rolled her eyes exasperatedly at her words, "- because you're with me."

Asami's heart clenched with love. She didn't think she'd ever get used to the feeling of Korra bearing her heart and soul. Or being quite so romantic. Her cute tough Avatar.

"I get to show you off. I get to play big Water Tribe warrior with a gorgeous, intelligent and compassionate woman on my arm. And yeah, I like Water Tribe history and loved hearing the stories of our people from Katara. But you have to understand that I was primarily raised in a compound with different Masters from different backgrounds. Learning about Water Tribe customs took a back seat to mastering the elements."

"So you _don't_ want to raise her in the Water Tribe way?" Asami hedged carefully.

Korra chuckled. "Did I say that? Of course I do. But ... you're probably going to have to raise me right along with her because I'm flying blind here, sweetheart."

When their daughter kicked the skin beneath their joined hands in agreement the Avatar and the CEO laughed. It was settled. They were having a Water Tribe baby.

* * *

><p>"Well Miss Sato -"<p>

"Mrs." Asami corrected automatically.

"Apologies, _Mrs_. Sato. While I find your proposals adequate I ..."

Asami's eyes narrowed at the gentleman busy in the act of adjusting his tie. He'd shuffled his feet on this for months. His assistants had screened her calls for weeks and getting him down here to her office had looked like an impossibility. It had taken the combined political weight of Tenzin, the former Prince Wu and President Raiko's successor ... President Raiko Jr, for Mr. Iachi to agree to come down to Future Industries that afternoon.

The moment he'd settled his fat behind in the unoccupied chair in her office Asami had sent a quick silent prayer to the spirits.

"The time constraints," he managed gruffly. "A year is hardly enough time for my men to begin and finish construction. I understand that you have a little one on the way and will be unavailable but it simply can't be done."

"Mr. Iachi, you and I both know that we can do this within the year. You have over 800 benders contracted and the Order of the White Lotus is prepared to assign some of their own members to this project. I will be providing you with all the supplies, of course."

Mr. Iachi crossed his arms over his chest grumpily. "I don't understand it. All of that energy and money on an Avatar Temple? We never needed one before."

"And what of it?" Asami arched an eyebrow at the man. "It has been commissioned by the Order of the White Lotus and you and I will be paid handsomely. Our feelings on the matter are of no real importance."

"You can't sit here and tell me you're not pleased," he argued, hands flailing, "Your wife is the Avatar. There's going to be a huge monument in her honour erected on the outskirts of the city."

He was right, in a sense.

Talks for the construction of a new Avatar Temple had been ongoing for years. The Order of the White Lotus had commissioned the building shortly after Korra and Asami's return from their Spirit World vacation, but plans had been largely put on hold to allow the city to rebuild. Now that the dust had finally settled and life had more or less resumed it's natural rhythm, the Order had started to push the Temple motion at most Council meetings.

It would be a beacon of hope for the future, they promised. Not to mention that Korra had taken the project to heart. After all, she'd spent years collecting past lives through meditation and lone trips to the Spirit World. Anything which honoured these lives was positive in the current Avatar's book. And so by consequence Asami's too. So yes, she _was_ pleased.

"Not that it's any of your business, Mr. Iachi, but yes I am rather pleased. Pleased that the Avatar and everything she stands for will still retain a spot in this growing industrialist world. That the spirits and our children will be able to seek refuge and solace in Republic City's Avatar Temple."

Mr. Iachi lowered his eyes at Asami's passionate speech. His hands interlocked over his wide stomach and he sat, contemplating her words. Asami's expression softened at his downtrodden pout. It must have been humbling to be scolded by a woman twice your junior.

"Mr. Iachi," she sighed. "Think of this as a meshing of our innovation and the past. A way for us to maintain balance. We shall be the pioneers of a movement."

Asami knew she had gotten though to him when he nodded, mumbling, "Could be nice to be regarded as a pioneer of balance. Just as the Avatar maintains balance."

"Exactly." She handed him the proposals for the Avatar Temple and leaned back again in her chair, one hand framing the girth of her abdomen. She tried not to wince visibly, or show Mr. Iachi just how sore her back had become, shifting uneasily in place.

He stood and slid the files into an open briefcase, shaking his head when Asami tried valiantly to sit up in her condition to see him out. "No, no," he said. "I'll show myself out. Thank you for your time, Mrs. Sato. Give my best to Avatar Korra."

"Of course."

* * *

><p>"I didn't know there'd be so much friction over this," Korra said pensively as they walked arm in arm around the small garden. It was a full moon and the Avatar had been restless for most of the evening - feeling it's pull. Coupled with Asami's recent backpain which meant she couldn't sit still for too long, they'd decided a refreshing walk would alleviate both Korra's nervous energy and Asami's discomfort.<p>

"They'll change their tune when they see it finished," Asami reassured her through gritted teeth. She stopped and groaned, one hand flying to the small of her back. "Ow," she grumbled.

Korra rubbed the spot sympathetically. Asami had been lucky for most of the pregnancy. No swelling, minimal nausea, and certainly no back pain. This new facet to the pregnancy, which had only begun in the last twenty four hours, was proving to be Asami's undoing.

"Spirits, Korra - something's not right."

The Avatar's eyes bugged. "What? What's wrong? Do you need a healer?"

Asami's brows knitted in concern before she went quite scarlet and glanced down at the front of her maternity slacks. "I think I just passed something sticky ..."

"YOUR WATERS?!"

"Korra!" Asami barked, "Focus! Get Tenzin on the phone and ask him if we can use Oogie for the trip to the South."

Korra nodded hesitantly, helping Asami back into the house and setting her down on their couch before she raced off to find their phone. In this time Asami began to let out soft mewls of pain, clutching at her wide belly and back, silently ordering her child to settle.

Two weeks early, she thought wildly, her red-rimmed eyes meeting Korra's when her wife barrelled back into the room. Too early.

They'd planned to travel to the South and get settled next week. It would have given them the time to contact friends and visit an ever ailing Katara. Not arrive like vagabonds in the night.

"Asami," Korra whispered before sinking at her feet when Asami began to cry. "Sweetie, we're going to be okay. I promise you we're going to be okay."

"It's ... too ... early," the CEO managed through her hacking sobs, "She needs more time to grow!"

Korra kissed Asami's wide abdomen and shook her head, hands running along the length of the bump before taking hold of Asami's shaking ones. "She's strong already. Remember that our girl's a waterbender."

Asami felt the keen urge to knock the Avatar over. "And?!" she demanded shrilly.

Korra grinned. "It's a full moon tonight, darling. We're at our most powerful during a full moon."

Asami's eyes widened and she gaped at the Avatar and then at her bump, forgetting the clenching pain for a moment. Realization began to dawn.

"She's ready."


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Korra.

**Review Responses:**

Masterkungfu2013: Your guess is as good as mine.

kaizer20: No worries about reviewing. I don't really do this for the reviews. Although it is nice to know people like your stuff. Thank you kindly.

Phoebex13: That's basically it, yep. Oh, and Korra was legitimately worried about that. My real life shit has died down, thankfully. Thank you.

maximus17: Gracias. Diez capítulos, creo que.

Gamer AlchemistZ: I'm really glad you like it.

Olympus - 117: Thank you, dear. Hope you liked this one.

Claire Cooper: I hope you didn't bet on twins.

hawkefan: I love rugged Korra. There's something so animalistic and primal about her when she fights that I had to insert it into her Water Tribe warrior persona. Thank you for your continued support.

LordTicky: I hope this chapter fulfils your expectations. I'm sorry about that, but I didn't want to get bogged down writing about a wedding when I really wanted to broach Asami's research about Water Nation culture.

Wolf: *throws chapter at you* THERE YOU GO.

Sam-jj94: Thank you. We'll have to wait and see. Someone suggested they should name the baby after Asami's mother so ...

Jay aka Jordan: I don't think Asami is all that worried about her Fire Nation roots. She's too much of a Republic City girl to have any strong affiliations to any one nation. Kind of like an industrialist Avatar in her own right.

IllogicalMuse: I'm doing okay, thank you. You were right about the bittersweetness. Hopefully it's still an entertaining read.

Aceina: Thank you.

Spikesagitta: And you gotta deal with it!

Liz555: Thank you, I hope you like this latest chapter.

Juls: Thank you!

chaosrin: I'm very glad. The meshing of past and future is the very essence of this story.

Guest: um ... ? I'm glad you've gone ... bananas for this story? (aaaaay pun)

avatarian: I certainly will, thank you!

DragonTurtle3: Admittedly I did not add a paragraph about how Asami could sympathise with how Korra felt because she too had lost her parents. That was a mistake on my part. However, is that legitimately your only complaint of the chapter? Because if so the capslocks were unnecessary and borderline threatening. Please refrain from addressing me in this manner in the future. I will take constructive criticism (yours was not constructive criticism, by the way) but I will not tolerate being made to feel like a failure for writing something which I do in my own time, with no fiscal rewards, and for the pleasure of other LoK fans. Thank you.

Britmysta: I'm very happy to hear that. And very pleased that I was able to pull of something so intimate.

Kurrent (chapter 1): *hyperventilates*

Kurrent: I feel I need to say that I quite literally worship the pages on which your pen rests. I've followed your writing since I joined this site. It is an honour and privilege that you've taken an interest in this story. Anyway, on the matter of the story: I hope to build up a clearer picture of Korra and Asami's work life in the last few remaining chapters. And how a baby fits into all of this. Thank you again.

**A/N:**

Sorry for the wait, peeps. Longest chapter of the story, though. Does that make up for the wait?

* * *

><p>Chapter 7<p>

* * *

><p>When Oogie touched down on one of the Palace verandas, several guards ran out to meet the exhausted beast. They'd flown at record speeds and Korra was only mildly guilty at the pressure she'd put on the Flying Bison, white knuckling the reins and praying fervently to the Spirits. Another greater part of her only knew the relief of finally being in the Southern Water Tribe. There had been moments during their flight when she'd thought Asami might give birth to their little one in Oogie's saddle. Thankfully, labour was a painfully slow process.<p>

Oogie flattened like a pancake on impact with ice and his great big tongue lolled out of his mouth in huge gulping pants. All six of the bison's legs splayed out, giving him an ornamental rug sort of appearance. Korra tried to contain her grimace at his apparent fatigue. At her hand, too. She had to actively remind herself that the airship, although Asami's preferred mode of transport, couldn't have hoped to have been ready in time for their hasty departure from Republic City. Korra made a note to thank Tenzin the next time she saw him. And give Oogie a treat when everything had died down.

While Oogie set about trying to recuperate, the majority of the guards were sent running in the opposite direction at the Avatar's frantic cry of "FIND MY MOTHER. ASAMI'S GONE INTO LABOUR!" as she stood in the back of the saddle helping Asami to her feet. They tripped over themselves in their haste to execute the command while others remained to handle the Avatar's luggage and unfasten Oogie's saddle.

Korra watched the guards turn tail and run, swinging an incredulous gaze at the pregnant woman in her arms when Asami began to chortle.

"What?" Korra demanded her face twisted with worry.

Asami had been quiet during their trip. Soft little mewls of discomfort had groaned from her throat at random intervals but for the most part she'd slipped into a soundless sort of state, curled up under many blankets and a parka. There had been a faraway look in her eyes. Absent. Like she'd been thinking of something or someone but hadn't the strength nor the words to bring it – them – up.

Asami shook her head gently and curled more snugly into Korra's arms as the latter airbended them to the ground. "They're terrified of you," she said amusedly, her muteness temporarily forgotten, "You Momma-bear you."

"They better be," the Avatar growled, allowing Asami to stand on her own two feet. Truth be told, she'd frighten an entire army of Palace guards if it meant Asami would not slip to that lethargic place she'd occupied on this trip to the South.

Asami touched her wife's cheek gently and Korra's entire body sagged into the contact. They shared a smile between them before Korra's eyes swung the length and breadth of the veranda, expecting her parents to come rushing out at any moment. They narrowed dangerously however when two guards re-appeared with a woman in tow. A woman who was quite clearly not _Senna_.

"I thought I called for my mother," she threw at the group indignantly, arm around her wife and the other tensing a fist.

"Korra-" Asami whispered, laying a soft hand against her wife's forearm.

"Asami," Korra returned just as softly, "Please. Let me take care of this."

Their eyes held fast. In Korra's, Asami could see fear. Pure naked fear. Korra was out of her depth here, faced with Asami's pain, and was grasping at any semblance of control.

"Please," Korra croaked.

Asami realized now, more clearly than she ever had before, that Korra needed to feel as though she had a role in this family they were building. Korra was not the breadwinner – her work as the Avatar had no fiscal rewards of any kind and their sole income was thanks to Future Industries and Asami's tireless work ethic. It must have been taxing on her conscience to think that her contributions to their child's life would be minimal in the material sense.

Not to mention that Asami was the one actually carrying their girl and who would then eventually nurse her. Korra would have to content herself with the edges of the experience of birth and motherhood for a few months, at least until their child required further needs to be met that Asami couldn't provide on her own. Of course, this did not mean that the baby wouldn't immediately need Korra to change her diaper or soothe her back to sleep. All of these things Korra could and would do – as she so wanted to.

But right now there was no baby to soothe to sleep. Only Asami in distress, frightened and in pain; and an Avatar at the end of her tether and trying to protect this new fragility.

Korra _needed_ to be the protector.

"Okay," Asami said, "Do what you have to do for us."

"Avatar Korra, Lady Asami," the woman interjected as she bent low at the waist in a respectful bow. "I am your Kisuliuq. My name is Benma. Your mother and father have left the Palace since the morn with expressed wishes not to be disturbed."

Korra bristled visibly but before she could lash into their Kisuliuq about _respect to her Avatar_ and _respect to their Chief's heir_ and just general _respect_ – Asami let loose a terrible trembling moan of pain and buckled against Korra's body. The other woman held her up and her gaze sought Benma's for instruction or reassurance. This was the first time a pain had rendered Asami near to crumbling and panic welled in Korra's throat.

"Can you carry her inside?" Benma prompted.

Korra nodded somewhat shakily and when the pain had passed Asami allowed her wife to sweep her up, before they followed Benma and the guards inside the Palace.

* * *

><p>The entire room was dark save for a solitary oil lamp lighting a soft fragile glow on the bedside table of Master Katara's room. Kya dimmed it a little as her mother grumbled about the brightness hurting her eyes from beneath a mass of pelts and covers. Despite the extra insulation the fabled Master was still complaining of cold and it was all Kya could do to keep herself from crying as she tucked yet another blanket over her mother.<p>

She kissed the weathered cheek and retreated back to the far wall where Senna and Tonraq had settled with tea and a Pai Sho board. They smiled sadly up at her as she gracefully, as though she too bore the gift of airbending as her brother's did, fell into a cross legged seated position beside the board and moved one of Senna's tile to win her the match.

Tonraq blinked hard at the game and Master Katara smiled softly into the downy pillow of her cot when she heard Senna and her daughter laugh at his incredulous expression.

* * *

><p>Their room was almost unrecognisable. Fur pelts were hung and crammed into every orifice, blankets had been strewn across the marble floor, and a warm fire in the previously unused hearth was lighting merrily. The entire room was warm as a result. Stifling, even. So she helped Asami to divest herself of the heavy duty parka and passed it, along with her own, to a waiting attendant at her elbow and was glad to be rid of the unnecessary layer.<p>

Asami ventured inside, taking it all in. Korra allowed her to do so as she took a great whiff of a scent on the air she hadn't smelled in years. Charred wood and something … something like Senna's kitchen. And the floral scent of their garden in Republic City. She smiled at the thought and watched Asami through heavy lidded eyes as the engineer, the love of her life and mother of her unborn child, waddled to the window and gazed out onto a shinning sun.

She looked beautiful in its rays and –

"The sun is hitting the bed too directly," she said to Korra directly, breaking the fog of love and lust that had descended over the Avatar. "I don't want to have the sun in my eyes while I'm pushing out a baby."

Korra blinked and stood stock still as she watched Asami move towards a pelt and two attendants rush to her aid in attaching it over the window to darken the room so that only the firelight offered its company. She thanked them in a low breathy voice and, satisfied that the room was dark enough, crossed to the opposite side of the bed to rummage through their bags and place their contents around the room at her whim.

Korra ducked out of her wife's way and sat herself down on an armchair by the hearth at Benma's urging.

"This is temporary," the Kisuliuq reassured a concerned looking Avatar. "Lady Asami is nesting. That is, preparing for the baby's arrival and organizing the room for birth."

Korra's brows knitted as she observed Asami … nesting? Was that right? "Oh, okay," she said a little dubiously.

She wasn't well versed in birthing rituals but sat quietly and let Asami do as she pleased. Anyway, it was nothing short of incredible to watch Asami potter around their room with one hand on the swell of her bump, arranging their baby's clothes on the bedside drawer. Korra's entire being ached at the scene that presented itself before her eyes.

What a lucky baby, she marvelled. To have Asami for a mother was truly a blessing.

Their eyes locked and Korra offered her wife her most loving smile and felt her chest warm with pure emotion. Asami looked perfect in the role she would soon be thrust into. She thanked Raava from the very depth of her soul for the gift the Avatar State had given them.

"Help me," Asami murmured as she moved to stand between Korra's legs. She ran her hands lovingly through the other woman's hair and bent to press a kiss to soft trembling lips when Korra's hands kneaded at her hips. "We have to rearrange the pillows on the bed."

Korra let herself be tugged out of her armchair and listened to her wife's instructions a little mystified by how pillows were an important factor in the nesting process. In the mean time, their Kisuliuq was ordering attendants to leave the room and fetch water and sheets. When she turned back to see what had become of the Avatar and Lady Asami, she smiled to see them holding each other in the middle of the bed. Korra's arm was slung low on her wife's hip and her hand splayed possessively over the swell of Asami's belly, face nestled into dark windswept hair.

* * *

><p>"Tenzin and Bumi will be here soon, Mom," Kya murmured as she adjusted the covers more snugly around her mother's small – dear Tui when had she become so small? – frame.<p>

"Good, good," Katara rasped. She opened her eyes a crack and regarded Kya sitting above her. "I'm just going to sleep a little, Little One. Before they get here with the children."

Kya nodded hesitantly and pet her mother's loose hair back and behind her ears. It was a gesture Katara had done for her countless of times when she'd been a child. It broke her a little to remember so. Still, she hoped it gave her mother the same comfort it had given her all those years ago.

"You are such a strong girl," Katara murmured in the still gloom. "So much like your father."

Kya's heart swelled to hear so. Her relationship with her father … had been rocky. But she'd loved him, and knew he'd loved her beyond reason, too. She blinked back the tears around a smile. "Yeah?"

"Hmm," the Master hummed drowsily. "But like me too."

Kya kissed her forehead and nuzzled into the skin which had given her life. "Like you too," she whispered brokenly.

* * *

><p>There was something so incredibly disconcerting about having a stranger between your wife's legs. Korra tried to force down the grimace and vocal growl of repulsion at Benma's hands so close to Asami's womanhood, and it was only when the Kisuliuq had lowered her wife's nightgown back down that Korra felt herself relax.<p>

"The pains are coming frequently now but you are not quite ready to push," Benma told Asami as she washed her hands in the basin by the bed. "Continue to move around as much as you can. It will help the baby to push down more quickly."

With that, she left them to their own devices and fled the room. Perhaps Korra had not been subtle enough in her disapproval of the Kisuliuq so close to Asami. Although she couldn't find it in herself to mind all that much. It would prove prudent of the Kisuliuq to remember whom Asami belonged to and what lengths Korra was prepared to go to in protecting her vulnerable labouring wife should she be threatened.

"Come on," Asami grumbled as she shifted off the bed, "Let's pace like lunatics and try and shift that stubborn daughter of yours."

Korra smirked and offered her arm, readying herself mentally for a lifetime of Asami calling their little girl Korra's whenever she misbehaved.

* * *

><p>"She's doing good work out there, Katara," Tonraq said, one hand clasping his wife's shoulder as he knelt behind her. Katara had rolled over in the cot to face them both and her eyes were tired but twinkling as they spoke of Korra. "She's helped push for an Avatar Temple in Republic City and is petitioning for more infrastructures to be built in rural areas."<p>

"She's doing you proud," Senna added tearily. "She and Asami are coming down next week to get everything ready for the baby."

"Korra is taking it very seriously," Tonraq interjected and he and Senna shared a soft knowing look, "She's been phoning us every night to ask about what she had to expect during labour."

"I think we've scared her more than anything." Senna giggled.

Katara chuckled absently at the notion. Then, "Asami has lost her mother and father, hasn't she?" she rasped.

Senna nodded. It wasn't a secret that Hiroshi Sato had been killed in battle, or that his wife had been killed at the hands of a firebender when Asami had been nothing else but a child. Asami did not often speak of her parents but when she did it was with a frank openness. Her father had redeemed himself for his actions by saving her life and helping to bring down Kuvira. As consequence, Asami held no ill will to his memory.

"How is she taking the loss of her family at the cusp of growing her own?"

Katara's words echoed in both Tonraq and Senna's heads. They had never stopped to ponder this before. Korra had never mentioned anything …

"You know," Katara went on, whispering around a croak. "When I was pregnant with Bumi, I longed for my mother. I had my Gran Gran, my friends, my brother, husband and father. And still, all I could think about was my mother. I never said it to Aang." She paused to take in a breath from a deep rattling lung. "I doubt Asami has said it to Korra."

Senna and Tonraq were speechless in the face of this wisdom. They looked at each other and Senna clasped a hand over her husband's. His mouth was a thin line and his eyes were deep and pained. He knew what it was like to miss family, even though you had chosen and made your own. It hurt him to think of his daughter-in-law carrying the same burden.

"You must be there for her," Katara murmured, hands finding one of Senna's resting gingerly on the cot. She placed her hands over the knuckles and squeezed briefly.

"We will," Senna promised.

* * *

><p>Asami grunted as another contraction reared its ugly painful head. They'd been coming fast and strong for the past hour. Benma's last check had revealed that Asami was closer to pushing – but not quite. She would have to labour for a little while longer still. So here she was, elbows resting on the soft animal fur covers of their bed, anchoring her as she squatted on the floor. She began to rotate her hips with the new pains, trying to find an angle that lessened the sharpness.<p>

Meanwhile her wife was sat behind her, legs divided to bracket Asami's body, and kneading her back with sure careful fingers. Korra had also taken charge of a small basin of water and damp cloth and she rubbed it across Asami's face and shoulders every so often to soothe the feverish warmth of the other woman's skin. In her discomfort and irritation, Asami didn't have the words at hand to properly articulate how thankful she was for these little gestures.

"How do women do this? _Fuck_ – this is awful!" She grit her teeth and bit back a yowl, hands fisting the covers.

"I know, sweetheart." Korra nodded, digging her thumbs into the small of Asami's back to soothe the ache there. She was rewarded with a low hiss of relief.

"We are never having sex again, Korra. I mean it."

Korra smiled sympathetically and shifted to wring the damp cloth over the basin and wipe her wife's sweaty forehead. Korra was almost sure Asami wasn't serious. Almost. But it seemed Asami had quite forgotten it anyhow. She leaned into the cool cloth immediately, trying to rid herself of this heat saturating her skin.

"She's going to be an only child like us and now I know why," Asami grumped, head falling back to the bed once the cloth had retreated and Korra's chilly hands had moved back to aching skin and muscles.

"Hmm?"

"Because our mothers were smart enough to know that childbirth _sucks_."

Korra chuckled. There was probably some sliver of truth to that, in her own mother's case. Senna still bemoaned the twenty four hours it had taken to bring Korra to the world; as though Korra had done so on purpose just to remind everyone who they were dealing with. Hot headed from the start, her father had told her over the phone some weeks ago when she'd asked. It had been one of the hardest and toughest labours ever attended to by the Tribe's best Kisuliuq. Perhaps it was characteristic of the Avatar.

Asami cried out as another pain clenched tight in her belly. Korra felt warm trickling water gush out and soak her pants. She was so surprised by the feeling that she reared back like she'd been presented a dead corpse.

"My … my waters," Asami wheezed in surprise. "Oh Spirits ..."

"I thought your waters had already gone?" The Avatar pressed, feeling the world slip and slide under her feet at the implication of Asami's waters breaking.

"Must have been something else," Asami said, face twisting with the incoming tingles of another pain.

"I'll get Benma!"

Korra rushed out into the hallway and roared at a guard posted at the door to find the Kisuliuq. He didn't have to be asked twice and took off like someone had lit a fire in his breeches. When Korra re-entered Asami was crying. The sound of her wife's anguish was like a poison in Korra's body. Like the poison that had crippled her so many years ago. And here was its reincarnation threatening to do likewise.

She fell to her knees besides her wife and her hands hovered over Asami's body, wanting to gather her in her arms but wondering if even could given Asami's state.

"I want my mother," Asami whimpered.

Korra felt like she'd been dropped into the frozen ocean at the admission. "Oh sweetheart …"She engulfed her wife in her arms with only slight hesitation and felt Asami's trembling breaths and hiccupping cries against her chest.

Yasuko Sato had been a taboo subject during the pregnancy. Asami had scarcely talked about her to begin with, or her father, but Korra had expected _something_. She'd expected Asami to voice her sadness at not having her parents be present for the birth of their grandchild, or been told stories about Asami's childhood. She herself had prattled endlessly about the songs Senna had sung to her as a babe, and the hunting lessons her father had imparted.

Asami had staunchly refused to speak of the Sato's and the history she'd shared with them. Now – at the point of no return – Asami was finally calling out for her mother. It damn near tore Korra to pieces.

"I want my mother," Asami sniffled, fisting Korra's shirt. "She should be here. She should be with me. Korra – get her for me, please. You can get her for me, can't you?"

Korra clenched her eyes shut in pain and held Asami to her heart so ferociously she was probably bruising the other woman. Or at the very least cracking her ribs. The plea had ripped through her like a sword. She wanted to take all of Asami's pain away, both physical and emotional. She wanted, beyond else, to execute Asami's command and bring Yasuko to her like she so longed.

But she couldn't, she wasn't strong enough, she wasn't good enough to retrieve the one thing Asami had ever asked of her since they'd known each other.

She felt hot tears burn beneath her eyelids and pressed her lips to the crown of her wife's head, murmuring, "I'm here, shhh, I'm here."

* * *

><p>Katara had finally fallen asleep. It was a deep peaceful sleep and Kya was glad for it. Her mother had persisted in the land of the wakeful to speak to every visitor, to hold the hand of their Chief and reassure a distraught and exhausted Kya that all would be well. Kya despised that phrase. All would be well. Nothing would be well ever again.<p>

She held the pendant her mother had dropped into her open palm reverently. It was her grandmother's necklace; the original Kya. She rubbed her thumb over the engraving and bit her lip as she thought of Katara telling her with a decided finality, "It's home with you now."

Kya closed her fingers around it in a fist and brought it to her breast.

She left the room a little while later, content to watch the rise and fall of her mother's chest as she slumbered. When she entered the living room where Tonraq and Senna had settled after their talk with the Master, she found them speaking in hushed yet urgent tones.

"Is everything okay?"

"It's Korra," Senna said. She looked spooked and restless. Tonraq looked no better. "A messenger called. She and Asami have arrived. Asami's in labour."

Kya's eyes grew wide and she almost tripped over her own legs, bolting to their side. "You have to go back to the Palace!"

"What about Master Katara?" Tonraq asked. He appeared conflicted at the thought of leaving Kya to deal with the burden of her mother's last remaining hours. But Kya knew that she could not rob them of the first moments of their grandchild's life to keep her company.

"My mother would want you to be there."

* * *

><p>Apparently what Asami had passed at home had not been her waters. Rather, it had been a mucous plug. Which explained the stickiness. The water's breaking meant that the arrival of the baby was now imminent. This was further evidenced by Asami feeling the sudden urge to bear down and push.<p>

She was currently on all fours at the foot of the bed, straining with the effort that was demanded of her body. She'd tried on her back at first but pushing had been too difficult and painful. With Korra and Benma's help they'd readjusted her with minimal biting comments to Korra about how she could kiss their sex life goodbye.

Despite the verbal abuse Korra was knelt close to Asami's side. She was brushing her hair back and telling her how much she loved her in soft undertones, kissing her sweaty temple. Every time Asami's body arched with a contraction Korra murmured how amazing she was, how close they were to meeting their daughter. Asami clung to these reassurances like a drowning woman to a life raft.

Benma shifted at the end of the bed forcing Korra to look at her, gauging the Kisuliuq's facial expression for any signs of trouble. She saw none, only a sliver of apprehension as Benma told them, "I can see the head now."

Another push. Asami bit back the yell that had been building in her throat and fisted at the bed sheets.

"You're doing so wonderfully, Asami. The baby's got a fine shock of hair!"

Asami laughed weakly, looking at her wife who was beaming back at her.

"Did you hear that, Sweetie? Hair!" Korra sounded as though all of her birthdays had come at once.

Asami's giggles died instantly and Korra's bright beaming smile slipped as her wife cried out, feeling pressure against her lower back and beginning to push instinctively.

* * *

><p>It was twilight when Tenzin, Bumi and the children rushed into Katara's lodge. It was also clear it had started to snow outside. Their robes were speckled with snowflakes which had also powdered in their hair. Kya did not have the time to set the teapot down and tell them this because Bumi had taken three powerful strides and wrapped his arms around her before the words could form.<p>

It only took her a moment to reciprocate and she nuzzled her face in his shoulder as Tenzin, Pema and the children joined the embrace. When they'd pulled back no one said a word. Kya gestured for them to follow her into Katara's room.

When the door opened to the dark room, still lighted by the single oil lamp, Katara's eyes opened sluggishly. She smiled when she caught sight of Kya, then positively beamed to see her entire family gathered in one place.

"My family," she crooned.

Her grandchildren, her daughter-in-law, her baby boy Bumi (he'd always fought her on that, he was no one's baby – but he was _hers _and always would be hers) her beautiful and strong Kya who'd been the first nomad of the air nation, and her strong and courageous Tenzin. They all sunk to their knees by the bed and traded soft words of love and affection.

Katara soaked in it and felt _peace_.

* * *

><p>Asami had pushed for another half hour before Benma pulled back to see how she was fairing. Not very well from the looks of things. She was drenched in sweat, trembling, mewling in pain and insisting she couldn't go on. Even Korra's soft murmurs had dissolved into sharp little keens of "please, you can do this, please."<p>

"We'll have to try another position. The head is taking too long to birth."

Asami groaned at the very thought.

"Avatar Korra, kneel up near your wife's head."

Korra did as bid, understanding form the look in the Kisuliuq's eyes that now was not the time to disobey or argue. When she was in the proper position Benma told Asami to "gently rise up and lock your arms around Avatar Korra's neck."

Asami did so with some difficulty, hissing through her teeth as her battered and sore body shifted on its axis. She locked her arms around Korra's neck and nestled into her, breathing hard.

"That's it," said the Kisuliuq softly.

And Korra felt a monumental shift in the atmosphere. Everything became very still. Calm, peaceful. She could imagine they were home, embracing in their room.

"Let Avatar Korra's strength be your strength."

Korra encircled her arms around her wife's back, shaking palms resting on her soaked bare back. Asami had pulled her nightgown off some hours ago. Modesty had been shed and unneeded in this, _their_ space. Even Benman hadn't registered fully in the couple's mind as an occupant. She'd become merely a fixture in the room. Like a chair.

Korra hooked her chin over Asami's shoulder and held her. She hoped and tried to will all of her strength, all of her energy and breath into the woman she loved, into the mother of her child. Korra would be Asami's armour in this battle.

Asami's face nestled into the crook of her neck as she began to push.

* * *

><p>Katara's breaths slowed and her grip on Jinora's hand slackened. The young airbending master sniffled but did not cry. The family huddled together more closely by the bedside and began to pray.<p>

Soft musical notes, almost, took hold above their heads.

The last song of the dead.

Kya gripped the pendant in her hand so hard she left the imprint of a cresting wave in her flesh.

* * *

><p>"The head is born! Well done, Asami!"<p>

Korra shook from head to toe. She could scarcely believe the words that had been spoken. She nuzzled into Asami's neck and kissed the salty skin. "Did you hear that?" she whispered in awe, "Our baby's head is born."

Asami nodded shakily, not trusting her voice.

"One more push," Benma urged, excitement gripping at her tone. "One more push and your baby will be born!"

* * *

><p>Kya felt a presence she hadn't felt in years. It was like a warm current of air, wrapping around her body like the softest embrace. She hadn't been held like that since …<p>

Her eyes widened. "Daddy?"

Tenzin wheeled to look at her as Katara's own eyes fluttered open and settled on something just beyond their shoulders. Her mouth curled.

"Aang," she whispered.

* * *

><p>Asami let out a huge cry which felt like it had been summoned from the very depths of her soul. It rattled Korra's heart in ways she didn't understand. It was a mix of pain, of anguish, of triumph, of anger. But all Korra could really grasp, could really concentrate on, was the small blood stained and wrinkled being which slipped into the Kisuliuq's waiting hands.<p>

She felt her soul stutter as it recognized its child.

_Their_ child.

"She's here," Korra breathed, shell-shocked.

"Why isn't she crying?" Asami asked desperately against her jaw, too spent to turn her head. She was draped across Korra, spent.

Korra held her close but didn't have words to hand her, to assuage her worry. Their daughter _wasn't_ crying.

Benma turned the babe over and rubbed her back vigorously. Korra wanted to yell at her to stop. She was being too brusque with their baby girl – but suddenly –

* * *

><p>Master Katara of the Southern Water Tribe sighed out her final breath …<p>

* * *

><p>… and Avatar Korra and Asami Sato's child gasped in her first.<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Korra.

**Review Responses:**

Guest: Here you go!

Ryoko05: Thank you! We do get to see what the baby looks like and what they're going to name her!

CsongorBalint: You're very welcome. Thank you for reading it.

Spikesagitta: Maybe? Maybe not.

Guest: Thank you, I'm glad.

Jay aka Jordan: I did too.

Noodles: Thank you. Yes, I did notice that other birthing scenes were often rushed or a little too predictable in their patterns.

KeiHime013: Are you telling we're OTP compatible? Obviously an engagement is eminent ;)

Phoebex13: I really liked Kya's character. She was such a free spirit. I would have loved to have had more background on her.

maximus17: Espero que no lloraste mucho. Muchas gracias.

iggychan89: *tries to stick then back with duct-tape* Sorry.

Curious-browser127: A tad. It is a belief of mine that we all get recycled.

WordsToShare: Thank you.

Liz555: My writing isn't flowery or terribly expressive but it does evoke imagery and I'm glad other people think so too. I'm really glad you liked this chapter.

zilenaj: Why thank you! I'm very glad you like the story.

Guest: I'm very glad you liked it!

Caliax: Interesting in what sense? Only will time will tell!

ProudToBeaFIlipina: I'm sorry about your grandfather. Death is hard to grasp at any age. I'm glad you're enjoying to story so far.

YumiRitsua: You are so on the button with the name it hurts.

Claire Cooper: Thank you!

Guest: I'm very glad you like it.

slizzycutepizza: Korra interacting with the baby is my favourite thing. Also Korra being overly excited about the baby is also my favourite thing.

kataang4ever14: I'm very glad, thank you!

IllogicalMuse: I'm really glad everyone was on board with the scene changes. Thank you very very much for your kind words. I'm blushing.

Wolf: *hands you tissues*

E: All seven? Wow! Thank you!

Zippy: I'm really glad you liked how each issue was tackled. I wanted to make it as realistic as possible.

Britmysta: Thanks!

RedZenin: I think everyone saw it coming, to be honest. I am so glad you like it.

Guest: Katara and Aang, finally reunited.

Dimensional Lover: AAAAAAAASEBANYAAAAAAA *Korra holding the baby up Rafiki style*

Olympus - 117: I'm glad, thank you! *hands you a tissue*

Gamer AlchemistZ: I'm totally crying, are you kidding me? There's a forest in my eye.

LordTicky: I think sadness is the general consensus to how we're all feeling. Don't worry - let it out.

guest357: Here it is!

YuriLover24: You did!

AeardolHira2078: Me too. Me too.

**A/N:**

Hi guys. We've got one chapter and an epilogue left and then we're done. We're so close to the end! Also before anyone asks, yes I did change my name.

* * *

><p>Chapter 8<p>

* * *

><p>Soft wanting starlight illuminated the Avatar's dark room. This light made the acquaintance of a new soul to the earth and it danced merrily across its features – the dip and slant of a Sato nose, the chubby tanned cheeks of the Water Nation, and tiny rounded ears. The baby wriggled in this silver light against her mother's chest, fingers flexing eagerly and legs jutting out. It was as though she'd been told that the great big beautiful was waiting for her to explore it. She only settled when her mother ran a soft comforting hand over her long back, face nuzzled against a bare shoulder.<p>

Asami smiled into her daughter's crusty blood matted curls. The baby's reassuring weight against her chest was like a soothing balm to the pain of childbirth. It had been worth it, anyhow. She'd go through a thousand labours if it meant the end result was this … spectacular.

Spectacular: the word didn't do her daughter justice. Miraculous, perhaps, was closer to the truth. Asami hadn't realized she was capable of this much love. Her eyes roamed every detail of her baby greedily. She had Korra's chin and complexion; Asami's nose and thick dark hair. Her cries were pup like, and her appetite was dainty.

The baby gave a coo and Asami's heart leapt, hoping perhaps that the baby might wake and blink her gorgeous eyes up at her.

Korra had voiced her hopes for their daughter to inherit Asami's 'beautiful jade eyes' . Benma had told them that traditional babies usually sported milky or blue irises for the first few months of life, but that they'd see them darken and finally settle before her first birthday. Asami hoped they never changed. The baby had only opened her eyes once shortly after birth, but Asami had been thunderstruck by their beauty. A bright frozen artic blue, just like Korra's.

The door to their room opened and Asami's heart sung to find its mate enter the room with a tray of food as though summoned by Asami's thoughts. Korra's grin was infectious and Asami tried not to laugh and startle the dozing baby in her arms when the Avatar said "Watch this!" and began to do acrobatic tricks – never once dropping the tray or spilling a drop of tea – just for Asami's amusement.

Korra had been on a high for hours. She'd leapt from their six story window shortly after their daughter's first feed to run a lap around the Palace grounds, yelling at the top of her lungs that their baby had finally arrived. The guards on patrol had scratched their heads, or laughed, as she thundered passed them in her glee. Benma had watched her from the window and shaken her head at the Avatar's tomfoolery, praising Asami for her patience in dealing with Korra day-to-day.

"The firebending's a little much," Benma had muttered, eyes following Korra as she bended tall celebratory flames of fire into the night.

"Get over here you silly thing," Asami chuckled, one hand at the baby's head to keep her still. "Stop showing off."

Korra rolled her eyes at the soft reprimand but bounded to the bed, setting her tray on the bedside table and hastily kicking off her boots. She scrambled under the covers beside Asami who welcomed her with a gentle doting kiss. Then, they both turned their attentions to the tiny new member of their family breathing soundlessly in slumber.

"She's so perfect," Korra said, awe and love saturated in her tone. Her eyes trailed up from the gorgeous view to an even more gorgeous view (one with matted hair, flushed cheeks, and tired sunken but still twinkling eyes) "Just like her mother."

"Charmer," Asami whispered, coy, just before Korra claimed her lips for a tight and butterfly inducing kiss. She nipped at her wife's bottom lip after several blissful moments of contact and groaned when a hot tongue slithered into her mouth.

Asami couldn't wrap her mind around this sudden need for Korra. It had started sometime during the baby nursing. Benma had warned them that arousal was a normal consequence of feeding the baby and that Asami should not worry. Still, she advised them that it would be prudent to put any amorous activities on hold until Asami had healed and the baby had fallen into a pattern. Korra had flushed and looked sheepish under Benma's glare. It was obvious the Kisuliuq was used to men putting up more of a fight at this command. She was pleased to note the Avatar's agreeing nod and tender assertion that nothing would happen until Asami wanted it to.

Asami realized, however, how hard that would be on them both. Her entire being ached to join Korra's in the manner that had given them their daughter; despite her exhausted and hurting body. She knew her wife felt the same way from the heady moan she muttered against her mouth.

They were made to part reluctantly when the baby started to whimper. Korra smiled and craned her neck down to whisper her lips on her daughter's forehead in silent apology for having disturbed her. Then her arms wound around her two girls and she tugged them near, eyes slipping shut when Asami nestled her face in the crook of her neck, exhaustion finally winning out over adrenaline. She slept deeply and content.

Korra let the moon touch the sleeping faces of her wife and child, listening to the sounds of the fire and the artic wind whistling from outside their window as she held them. It was right and warm – everything she'd imagined about a family with Asami. Her heart was full to bursting; and her mind was inundated with images of their baby's future (first words, school lunches, first day at the bending dojo, first scraped knee) - of more children, even.

Korra knew she was getting ahead of herself. The baby couldn't even lift her head up yet. There would be plenty of time for the future. Korra just wanted to bottle this joy and this experience and take a hit every time life knocked her down.

She opened her eyes and glanced down at her child. The baby's back rose and fell against Asami's palm and her diapered little bottom was supported by Korra's larger yet still gentle hand. The Avatar smiled and felt a surge of love so strong it bordered on painful.

Korra had been amazed at the baby's reaction to her. It was like she knew that Korra was her mother, too. She perked at the sound of Korra's voice and clasped her baby fingers around the Avatar's thumb like she'd known the hand she was gripping would never falter, never let harm come to her. Korra hadn't even found it in herself to be embarrassed that Asami had witnessed the Avatar succumb to hot happy tears when the Kisuliuq had instructed her to cut the cord which tied their daughter to Asami.

The master of all elements and bridge between two worlds was completely at the whim of a three hour old infant.

She didn't care. Let the world know she was head over heels for her baby girl. Let entire continents be privy to the knowledge that Korra would willingly lay down her life for a child whose entire body fit in the palm of her hands.

* * *

><p>When Asami awoke it was with a start. She felt … light. Quickly, she turned to see where the baby had gotten to. She breathed a sigh of relief to see that her daughter had had been settled in a crib made of elephant walrus tusks beside the bed. Benma and Korra had pushed it inside the room together and made quite a fuss over the intricate carvings.<p>

"See that one –" Korra had pointed to a carving of the Water Tribe symbol with pride. "My father carved that. And down here –" A polar bear dog. "Mom did that one."

Their little one seemed unconcerned by the history of her resting place. She was simply content to sleep off the exhaustion of birth while her mother swung her legs over the side of the bed, groaning at the achiness she felt in her stretched muscles.

Asami dressed in the warm tunic and pants Benma had left for her, clasping her betrothal necklace around her neck. She smiled to feel the cool metal's weight at her throat before moving towards the crib.

"Hello, darling," Asami whispered, tickling her fingers gently across the baby's brow. "I'm sorry I fell asleep on you. I hope you're having good dreams."

The baby's nose wrinkled but she did not wake. Even when the door opened and her other mother tramped inside looking like she'd all but seen Zaheer frolicking outside in his underwear.

Asami was instantly concerned.

"Korra?"

Korra jolted. Her ashen face met Asami's tired but worried one and she forced herself to walk over to the crib. Asami met her with open arms which the Avatar folded into, shuddering like a leaf.

"Sweetie, what's wrong?"

Korra closed her eyes and swallowed the lump in her throat. "Katara," she whispered, and then the dam broke. She began to cry in earnest, clutching at Asami's shoulders as her entire body shook with sobs and deep gulping breaths of anguish.

Asami lowered them to the ground and gathered her wife in her lap, gently shushing and rocking her to and fro. She was sore, granted, but the pain was nothing to the one in her heart as she took in Korra's sadness. Katara had meant a great deal to her wife. Her passing would be a hard one for Korra to reconcile.

They sat together for what seemed like hours. When Korra pulled back, silent but with tears still coursing down her cheeks, Asami kissed her forehead.

"I'm sorry," she whispered raggedly, sniffling. "Mom and dad are back and we received a call –"

"Shh," Asami shook her head. "It's more than fine. You comforted me for days after my father died. It's only natural that I should want to comfort you."

"She's really gone, Asami."

Asami tangled her fingers in rich brown and nodded against her temple. They trembled and held and broke and built each other up. Hands clasped, lips soothed wet cheeks, breath was traded and shared, and bodies fitted like brickwork.

They were together in this, as in all things.

The baby began to cry sometime after and Korra was the first to move to her feet to retrieve her. She picked the baby up, insurmountably gentle, and held the crying and wriggling child to her breast.

Her tiny features were pinched and blotchily red. Her cries were strong and rang in the room, causing Asami to wince and her breasts to ache.

Korra sank, baby and all, back into the comfort of her wife's side on the floor. She helped to position their daughter to her mother's breast, leaning their heads together as the baby latched and began to nurse fussily.

"Greedy thing," Asami giggled lowly. When her comment garnered no response she grasped Korra's hand prompting the Avatar to lift her gaze from where it had settled watching her daughter nurse. "Hey, do you think maybe we should name her now?"

Korra blinked. "Huh? Oh, yeah?" she broke out into a tentative half smile, touching their daughter's dark fuzzy head.

"Hmm." Asami took a breath, praying to the Spirits that what she was about to do worked. She lifted the baby away from her breast and braced herself.

Their daughter didn't disappoint. She began to yowl intensely, far from pleased to have had her meal disrupted like this. Korra watched all of this play out, wondering what on earth Asami wanted to gain from denying their child food.

Asami brought her knees up and rested the baby in the incline that they made. Her tiny fists clenched and swayed in her unhappiness and it broke both mothers' hearts to see her in so much distress. But Asami was hopeful that maybe …

She glanced at her wife. Korra's eyes were wet but curious. They connected with her own and Asami wrapped an arm around her waist and tugged her closer. She turned her attentions back on the crying baby and said, clear as day.

"Katara."

The baby fell silent.

Korra gasped.

* * *

><p>Senna had not stopped grinning since the baby had been placed in her arms over an hour ago. Korra and Asami both watched from the bed with matching smiles. The grandmother looked so at ease with the new addition; she was murmuring soothing nonsense to the sleeping babe and shifting her body from side to side in a gentle sway. Asami felt an acute pang at the thought that Yasuko would never get to hold her granddaughter in the same way.<p>

The last several months had been hard ones to negotiate when she thought of the empty space on her side of the family tree. She was the last Sato – (of the original line, Korra would be insistent to add) and the notion rarely if ever left her.

She missed her parents. She missed the experiences she should have been able to share with them – flinging herself into Hiroshi's arms gleefully to tell him he would be a grandfather; talking about cravings and worrying about impending motherhood with Yasuko; finally being able to see her family together, whole and happy, fawning over her daughter.

The ache was piercing. But Korra soothed it with a soft kiss to the apple of her cheek and curled her arms more snugly around her.

"You okay?"

Asami nodded, angling her head to look up at her wife's concerned blues. "I'm fine," she said lowly. She found that she was sincere about it too.

"Kataraaaaaaa," Tonraq sang in a sing-song as he came through the half open door carrying a … club? Yes, he was really carrying a club. "Look what Pop-Pop's got for you."

Asami blinked rapidly and with increasing anxiety as the weapon made its way towards her newborn infant. She shoved Korra with her shoulder and inclined her head meaningfully to her father-in-law.

"Dad," the Avatar said, catching Asami's meaning, "Could you maybe not get the Death Stick so close to my daughter, please?"

"But this is Katara's first gift! Hand crafted – look!" He gave it an experimental swing and Asami had a hard time trying to bite down her squeal of terror. No matter that Tonraq was a good Naga sized length away. It was still too close for comfort for the new mother.

"Dad!" Korra yelped, almost tumbling out of bed.

"Pardon us … are we interrupting anything?"

The occupants in the room whirled to face the door where Tenzin was standing looking awkward and a tad sheepish. Tonraq lowered the weapon and clasped an embarrassed hand to the back of his neck. Next to Tenzin, Jinora was grinning brightly at Asami and Korra.

"Not at all, Tenzin," said Senna with a tiny beckoning wave, "Come take a look at this little Southern beauty."

Tenzin crossed the room in three great strides while Jinora made a beeline for Korra and Asami, holding their hands in congratulations. He peered into the bundle of furs in Senna's arms and felt his entire being warm and his shoulders drop. He smiled.

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

Korra and Asami shared a look between them at Tenzin's question. "Actually, that's the thing," said Asami. "Korra and I have been talking and … we'd like for you to be the baby's arnaliaq."

If Tenzin was surprised he didn't show it. He merely bowed his head and uttered a muted, "I am not worthy."

Korra leapt from the bed at the utterance and almost bowled the man over with the force of her hug. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, his shoulders shaking with barely repressed tears.

He'd mourned. Spirits how he'd mourned. Asami knew that he might feel as though, in the midst of this grief, he might not be ready for this. She thought of her father and the weeks following his death and closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Tenzin," Korra whispered into his chest, "I'm so sorry."

"It's alright, Korra."

He pulled back slowly, holding her at arm's length – gazing at her like a proud father. Korra laid one of her hands over his on her shoulder and offered him a tiny smile.

"You laid the foundation of my spiritual awareness and have been like a father to me. Your family is my family. Please, let my family be yours too."

Tenzin's gaze swung across the room. Tonraq and Senna were huddled together, nodding. Asami and Jinora on the bed were waiting expectantly for his answer. Korra – the Avatar he'd once known … to be so full of bravado and naivety … was imploring him with her eyes.

He nodded.

"I'll go get the Kisuliuq," Tonraq said, clasping Tenzin's shoulder when he passed. Asami was thankful that he took the monstrosity of a club with him.

When he reappeared with Benma, Tenzin had taken the baby from Senna and was gazing down at her like he expected her to levitate. Having regained her place beside her wife on the bed, Korra watched the entire scene play out excitedly.

"Master Tenzin," Benma said, "You have been chosen by Avatar Korra the Brave of the Southern Water Tribe and her wife Lady Asami Sato to be their firstborn's arnaliaq. Do you accept this?"

He smiled down at the sleeping baby in his arms. "I do."

"Is the child a daughter or a son of the Southern Water Tribe, Master Tenzin?"

He pulled back a corner of the fur wrap to check. "A daughter of the Southern Water Tribe."

"Master Tenzin, will you guide this child through life? Will you instil in her purpose, spirituality, and balance?"

"I will."

"Will you share with her your knowledge and your wisdom?"

"I will."

"If she strays from the path, will your hands guide her back to absolution?"

"They will."

"If her voice rises in fury will your words soothe her rage?"

"It will."

"Congratulations Master Tenzin. You are now an arnaliaq."

* * *

><p>Asami and Katara were left to sleep for the rest of the morning in peace. Meanwhile, Korra, her parents, and the airbenders converged together in one of the Palace lounges. Everyone looked several degrees of elated and downtrodden. The conflicting emotions were making Korra decidedly sick to her stomach.<p>

She received a flurry of congratulations from the children and Pema; and in the midst of her thanks she found herself telling them how sorry she was that Master Katara had passed away. It was a strange turn of events; to go from one exhilarating extreme of life only to leap to the destabilizing jarring extreme of death.

"We named her Katara," she said in a hushed tone to Tenzin, Bumi and Kya who all clasped hands.

"Mom would have loved that," Kya hiccupped. "Thank you, Korra."

"Don't thank me. It was the one name that made her stop crying. Asami knew."

"Women always know." Bumi gave her a heartfelt smile, devoid of mischief as it was. "A Mom Sense, as it were."

"That would certainly explain why Mom always knew when you'd snuck another stray animal into the house," Tenzin exclaimed, side eyeing his older brother.

Kya's palm slapped on the table and she laughed heartily. "I remember that! Her face! She used to go so red! And her eyebrow did that twitchy thing Tenzin does when he gets riled up!"

"It does not!" the youngest of the three boomed. His eyebrow, predictably, did the twitchy thing.

They table erupted in laughter. And for the rest of the afternoon the two families, now one, traded stories and food. For every story about Master Katara's temper and gentleness as she tucked Kya, Bumi and Tenzin in at night – there were others about the new Katara and how well she fit in Korra's arms, and how she looked like Asami when she wrinkled her nose, and how Tonraq couldn't wait for her to use the club.

Korra made a note to toss it out to sea and away from their baby the moment her father was occupied. Asami would probably hit her over the head with it if she didn't.


End file.
